Bitten
by Acoustic Redemption
Summary: After being attacked on his way home from a bot fight, Hiro Hamada is infected, and he and his brother have to help him adjust to the new life as a citizen of the night. [Vampire AU]
1. Bite

**Author's Notes: **

_It should be mentioned now that this fan fiction will include mentionings of, but not limited to:_

_Starvation, eating disorders, [[RAPE]]*, homosexuality, incest (Joked about, not canon), over protective brothers, abuse, ect, ect ect. If you're uncomfortable with vampires, lustful intentions, or not-graphic-and-not-really-something-that-couldn't-be-shown-in-a-PG 13-movie, then I wouldn't recommend reading this fic! ;c;_

_Otherwise, read at your on free will. If I need to tag anything, please let me know! c: I'll be more than happy to tag it!_

_*This will NEVER actually happen, but the first chapter alludes to a character fearing it'll happen to them, forewarning!_

_Another note: This story DOES include OCs, but they are rarely named nor are they inserts or anything. There is an OC in this chapter for the necessity of, well, you know, the plot getting started. o vo ;; They will not be reoccuring characters!_

* * *

><p>There was something about the fog in San Franstokyo that always sent chills down Hiro Hamada's spine.<p>

Maybe it was because it was night time, and despite his brother's warnings about the dangers of being out after dark _and _the dangers of bot fighting illegally in general, _and _despite the recent news of more victims being found out on the streets, he was out on the streets alone, at night, with all sixteen years of wisdom and street smarts barely keeping him safe. Or maybe it was just the atmosphere and the way the fog covered his skin and made his skin look much, much paler than it was supposed to be, made him feel much colder and hyper aware of his surroundings because _wow fog made it so he couldn't see ten feet in front of him at all times._

Or maybe it's because he's trying to keep his humanity intact, which would be rather nice considering he really isn't ready to become a bloodthirsty monster. Ever since his brother had found out about the rapidly growing vampire population, he'd been warning Hiro over and over, '_be careful, be aware, and if you're going to go outside at night, at least carry something that can stun them so you can run as fast as you can to somewhere indoors,'._

It isn't like he doesn't know the rules and dangers of the undead – it's just that he doesn't want to worry about it. Doesn't think it involves him. He only fights in the safer parts of town – sure, bot fighting's a _little_dangerous in his neighborhood, but it's only because of Yama's gang and their sore loser streak – but of all the witness reports, most of the infection cases had been in the north and east parts of town. Sure, it was scary, but he was small. They never attacked kids, either. A smart choice, really – if they attacked the kids, who would they feed on in the future?

Hiro pulls his jacket closer to him, embracing himself in the warmth. Though he's not too worried about becoming infected tonight, he still carries around a wooden stake, something he'd received from his brother a few bot fights earlier. With a reminder that he knew his brother would be safe, and a reminder that yes, Hiro _s__hould _carry it, just in case, Hiro had taken it with little fondness. But he found he actually enjoyed having the small security blanket with him at all times. Even if he wouldn't ever use it for its intended purpose, he knows that it's handy if he's ever attacked by even a human. (He's only been attacked twice, once by a gang and once by a homeless man fighting for his wad of cash. Both times, Tadashi had stepped in.)

He finds the alleyway between the 623rd Street Laundry Mat and Sunshine Bar and Grill and quickly ducks behind it, bot in hand, 10000 yen in pocket. It's not much, he acknowledges, compared to the hefty bets put on by the richer adults, but he doesn't have a hefty allowance and he doesn't let to bet all the money he owns for when he might actually lose. But as he enters closer to the ring, he can already tell the victor will be no problem. It's a very good bot, very sturdy, wrecking opponents left and right, but it's something Hiro's fought over and over with no problem. He maneuvers the crowd, waves to a few regulars who never bid, but just watch, and crumples up a few yen.

The show begins. He introduces himself shyly as Hiro to the woman running the match – it's Keoko, one of the usuals on this side of town. She plays along, as she usually does – "You have to _pa_y to _play._" – and he plays along. The person in front of him is a beautiful young woman, wearing a rather thin kimono with her hair in an elaborate bun. She reminds him of a geisha, with the way her white powdered makeup hides her true skin and the way her lips are painted a bright, beautiful red. He rarely pays much attention to the people he fights – it's not the focus of the battle – but he can't help but to keep his eyes on this opponent.

He's never fought a girl, much less someone actually pretty. It makes his stomach twist and turn – if he loses, he'll have to admit defeat to a _girl , _but if he wins, he'll feel like an asshole for taking a pretty lady's money. It's a lose/lose situation, and Hiro opts for the better of the two – he plays a game of innocence, smiling nervously at the pretty woman.

"Are you sure it's okay if I battle you?" He shakes, setting his little robot with its yellow face on the hard cement. Either the woman is falling for his play or sees right through it and is playing along, because she shrugs nonchalantly.

"Everyone deserves a little chance, little boy," She smiles gently. Her smile is warm and it reminds Hiro of his mother's faint smile as a child. It makes his stomach churn as anything relating to his family does. It almost sickens him to see a relation here in the fighting rings, where homeless men and thuggish citizens roam for some good entertainment.

Hiro pulls out the remote from his pocket, and drops some loose change and a few yen in the pot. He wants to put on a show tonight – and so he doesn't offer much for the pot. A few knowing spectators look on expecting a great triumph – they're regulars in other districts, and quietly root his name. "Hiro! Hiro! Hiro!"

The woman bows her head as the battle starts, giving her robot careful commands. It doesn't even take a minute for her bot to gently destroy his robot the first time. Hiro puts on a defeated look, staring at the woman in pure shock.

"My robot!" He fakes. The woman only looks triumphant.

"I'll let you keep your money this time, boy," She says politely, taking her own back and gesturing the pot back to him. Hiro's never encountered this situation before, and silently takes his money back, watching the woman carefully. She stands up from her spot, but before she can move, Hiro quietly peeps up.

"Can I go again?"

"Only if you have more money," The woman laughs, as does the rest of the audience. Even the regulars that have seen Hiro fight before laugh, adding into the game. They scoff knowingly at him, awaiting for him to retaliate.

"I do," Hiro says, holding up a rather large amount of money. 10000 yen, into the pot. The woman matches it with her own – perhaps even more money – and the battle begins. She looks at him with large bewilderment – a boy, foolish enough to put that much money in, as if it'll help him!

It doesn't take long for Hiro to fight the tricky creation, but it's an interesting one. The style of the woman isn't something he's encountered before – instead of straight up attacking him, she moves her robot in such a way that it seems she is actually avoiding being hit. The battle actually peeks his interest for the first time since he started really getting good at bot fighting. His own creation gets a few good hits, but in a matter of minutes, her's is decapitated and on the ground, sparking and spritzing like a firework. The woman drops her remote, not expressing anger, nor shock, but rather, as if concluding her defeat. Accepting it. Hiro smirks knowingly, taking his winnings from the pot and shoving it in the pocket. He mentally prepares himself for the woman to get angry, for people to grab at him like any other battle.

But the woman shrugs, grabs her bot, stands up. She doesn't say anything, just watches Tadashi, her green eyes glimmering in the dim, flickering lights of the bot arena. The crowd goes silent, the tension thick in the air. Hiro keeps his eyes focused on the woman, carefully standing up, picking up his bot. The woman keeps watching him, and they stand there, before Hiro finally politely bows to the woman. She doesn't show any emotion; she just quietly turns and walks away, her kimono restricting her from moving very fast. Hiro watches slowly, keeping his eye out. A new person challenges him to a battle, but he ignores them, The woman disappears.

In all four years he's been bot fighting, he's never,_ever _has seen someone be so calm about losing against him.

Very quietly, he stands up. It's nearly midnight – he knows his brother will be home soon from late night college cramming – and so he quickly dusts off his pants, waves goodbye to those competing, watches a bot fight start again, and quietly slips back into the alleyways. His mind lingers on the woman he'd battled.

He could almost hear Tadashi saying, '_Be careful. Always keep your eye out, especially if you feel safe,'. _He doubts the young woman would attack him, however. She was kind enough to let him keep his savings, kind enough to not fight him.

He's almost home when he hears the sounds of footsteps following him. It's not unusual; college kids, homeless people, people just trying to get home – they're all up at this time of night. However, Tadashi's warnings and Aunt Cass's concerns about vampires and bad people in general puts him on edge. He stops in his tracks. Listens. Hears it again, and whips around, pulling the stake from his pocket.

A stray cat meows at him. It's small, reminds him of when Mochi was just a kitten. He smiles, dipping down and extending his arm, but the cat doesn't come forward.

Instead, it hisses and runs away, and Hiro wonders why. He'd met many kind strays. His mind lingers on this for a moment.

Then, he's shoved against a wall by an unseen person, his mouth covered, his body pinned against the wall by something – no, _someone._

He's terrified, because when he's finally able to see a glimpse of the person, he sees it's the woman who'd been so silent, her black hair falling all over, her face against his ear, her breathing cold and moist on his neck. Hiro visibly shakes, looking for a way out. She reeks of wine coolers and cherry blossoms.

"Hello again, Hiro," The woman says. Her voice is rather raspy compared to how smooth it was when they fought only thirty minutes earlier. He was only streets away from home, and given he'd traveled almost two miles from home for the fight, he was actually more terrified; did she follow him all the way home? Has she been following him? She removes her hand from his mouth, but holds his head against the wall, making it hard for him to move. The brick wall hurts and scrapes roughly against his scalp. Her grip isn't much softer.

"Uhm," He says, not really sure what to say, but his mouth is free and he wants to take the opportunity. "W-what are you doing?" The woman only snickers. Hiro mentally scolds himself; of course they're not going to tell him what they're doing. He begins to panic, feeling fingers slide across his arm. This is wrong. He's only sixteen. He shakes his shoulders, trying to get away from the woman, but she had him pinned. He fears the worst – sexual abuse – and quickly tries to duck. The girl won't let him move. Not once inch.

A fleeting thought crosses Hiro's mind: Where. The. Hell. ?

He knows Tadashi follows him some nights, In fact, he knows he follows him most nights. He knows about the trackers, that his brother is aware when he's not at home (laundry days were a blessing), and he knows his brother only does it for his own good. Sure, he was mad at first, but he'd gotten used to it and it was a nice safety thing. But he also knows that Tadashi's doing a study project with his classmates. He knows he probably won't figure out Hiro's about to get hurt. He knows because he told Tadashi specifically this morning that he wasn't feeling well and was probably going to sleep all day.

He knows he's screwed.

But before he can panic about that, the girl whispers in his ear, "You know, I don't like losing very much." Hiro feels shivers down his spine. He immediately regrets the bot fighting. If he can just get out of this, he'll never go again. It isn't worth the extra money. He looks away from the woman, who's slowly running fingers down his neck, making a small gasp leave his lips. "Besides, you still owe me for that first fight," She chuckles lowly.

"I d-don't think rape is a fair trade," The words fall out of Hiro's mouth like poison. He's never liked those words. The woman backs away, pushing hair out of his forehead and looking him in the eyes with a malicious smile written all over her face. She brushes her hips against his own – their height difference isn't much but it's enough to make her slightly taller than him. She's shocked he isn't crying, puckering her lips at him.

"Oh, honey, I don't plan to do _that _to you," She purrs, tilting her head and cupping his chin, forcing his face up. "I'm not that kind of monster, though you are quite cute," He can feel her looking up and down his face; he closes his eyes and lets unpleasant sensations drown him as he fears she's about to violate his body. Maybe if he doesn't look, it, it won't be so bad. The smell of wine lacing her breath is enough for him to assume her behavior. She's drunk, lustful, promiscuous, all kinds of things he. Does. Not. Want.

But he can't keep his eyes closed for long, because he feels a tongue against his neck and it makes him flinch and squirm with unpleasant shivers. '_If it's cold and wet and not yours, don't touch it,' _crosses through his mind and he almost involuntarily gags. She pulls away from him, looking him in the eyes with a fierce intensity that sends shivers down his spine. He squirms, unable to remove his eye contact with her, and that's when he notices them.

There are fangs peeping barely out of her mouth.

"V-vampire," He spits out, and the woman coos softly, closing her eyes and grazing her soft lips up against his own. Now he understands the movements. The playful nature his brother warned him about only weeks before. How vampires liked to play with their prey, taking joy out of their victim's reaction to their everlasting lust. He's only fourteen, so he's not sure why a vampire would go for him. They never go for the younger kids. Being a victim means being sucked dry and he really doesn't want to die over being used as a food source. "I-I'm j-just a kid. Please!" He begs.

"Doesn't matter to me, sweetie," She coos, brushing her lips against his again. He shivers as he feels the smoothness of her fangs, the silkiness of her thin kimono, her freezing skin against warm arms. He starts to feel numb, panic and anxiety settling in. He's too stubborn to cry, but not stubborn enough to stop shaking fiercely. The woman grows bored with taunting him with her soft near-kisses, and starts softly kissing his cheek.

Hiro feels his face go red. "I-I'm too young for this," He stutters, but the vampire doesn't seem to care. A shrug from her is all he gets for a moment, before he feels her tongue on his neck again.

"I was only sixteen when I turned, too," She coos, nipping gently at him. "I find them to be awfully delicious. The closer to your age, the better, we vampires like to say," She shoves herself against him even closer, and Hiro shudders as she kisses his neck. It's always been an alarmingly sensitive spot for the boy – and even worse so with a stranger raking her tongue against it.

"Stop it," Hiro says, trying to push her away. This seems to upset her, though, as the vampire punctures a tiny hole in his neck with her teeth. He gasps, and the vampire laughs gently, brushing his hair out of the way.

"You're a fun one," She giggles. "Most of my victims just accept their fate."

"_Nii-San _says I'm too stubborn," Hiro accidentally slips into his Japanese – he hasn't called Tadashi that in years, but he shakes with fear and he knows he's doing this out of flight or fight mode. He's not sure which he's in now,

"It wouldn't be a lie," The woman says softly, poking another hole. She licks something warm and sticky from the stung area – and Hiro immediately feels his entire body go numb when he realizes she's licking blood off of his shoulder. _His _blood. He lets out a soft gasp.

And the soft gasp turns into a loud scream when she digs all four of her fangs into his shoulder. His eyes shoot open, his mouth agape, his body trembling as she wraps her arms around him tightly. He feels the injection – the enzymes that are supposed to keep his body from patching up the holes, the virus that spreads like ice through his veins, the proteins that tell his body to relax instead of fight. He can feel the liquid course through his veins, his arms and legs and everything wanting to go out as his body is comforted into relaxing. . He can hear the suckling of the vampire at his shoulder, the injury burning like when he accidentally brushes his arm against the stove or touches a hot pan without thinking. His breath comes out in short rasps, in, out, in, out.

He closes his mouth, his eyes, his ears. He slumps. Minutes pass, and he can feel his body getting weaker, and weaker, His legs begin to give out.

He hears the familiar sound of his brother's scooter racing down the alleyway. The tongue that had flickered at his neck is suddenly stopped, and he hears the vampire screech loudly. He opens his eyes – he's so tired, everything is slowly fading. How much blood had he lost in those few minutes?

He sees his brother, all 6'4" of him, stabbing the woman over and over with something in his hand. He recognizes it as the stake, that had been thrown on the ground when he had been caught. She screams, but they get progressively quieter with each stab, her skin materializing into ash as all the years she'd been turned catch up with her. She gives one last malicious smile.

"He's one of us now," She whispers. Hiro shudders. Tadashi screams.

She fades to ash.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>

_I'm not sure at all where I want to go with this fanfiction. It was original a vent fan fiction - I've been wanting to write about vampires since forever and I got pissed one day and went 'IM GOING TO GO DO SOMETHING STUPID LIKE WRITE A VAMPIRE AU FOR A CHILDREN'S MOVIE. HELL. YES.'_

And, well, here I am.

_If you guys have any questions or comments, feel free to PM or review. c: Thank you for reading!_


	2. Dying

**A/N: **_So I tried to chuck this chapter at you guys earlier yesterday, but I had school and work and I didn't really get started on editing the chapter until about 9 PM Pacific Standard Hippyville Time, so I apologize for those of you getting a ding going 'hey this asshole updated in the middle of the night! Yay!' (But hey, it's a nice present to wake up to, right?)_

_Thank you guys for all your positive feedback, though! I was not expecting as many reviews as I got. O – o ;; IT'S SO COOL. Anyways! This chapter is Tadashi centric, since our hero of the story is currently passed out. :33 I hope you'll enjoy it!_

_**II. Dying.**_

Tadashi Hamada, in all 6'4" of him, has not a bad bone in his entire body.

He rips through the streets, checking his phone and following the tracker that's connected to his brother. When the green dot on his phone stopped moving for five minutes, only a few streets short of the café, Tadashi is out the door of Wasabi's apartment and roaring down the streets, following his GPS as quickly as he can without breaking the law. He knows that if he's not quick enough, something horribly bad can happen to his brother. He knows the risks of being out this late. He warned his brother so many times.

_All of his friends, all of his teachers, all of his family, his little brother and his cat can tell you that themselves. He is a tender, gentle person who only plays harmless pranks on his brother and only wants to give the best to people. The best care, the best hugs, the best everything he possibly can. He is the person that everyone wants to be. He is the one who is always there._

Damn it! He speeds through a red light, not having time, and nearly gets hit by a truck. He doesn't care about the law now, however; all he cares about is finding his brother, and finding him fast, before something bad happens. If it hasn't already happened. Of all the things that he prays for the most, however, it's that his brother isn't being eaten alive. Even being beaten down by a gang is better than the horrifying alternative.

He's at the end of the alley way, peering down. He turns his headlight on to its brightest setting, illuminating the alleyway. The shadows from objects is horrendously overbearing, giving it a dramatic feel, but he can make out most of the alleyway regardless. He can see someone pinning his brother – he knows this by the blue jacket that used to be his, the one he handed down to Hiro ony a few years ago when he'd finally outgrew it - against the wall; his eyesight isn't perfect, but the lighting from his scooter gives him just enough light to make out a woman. At first, he laughs to himself – wow, has he just walked in on his brother getting busy with a lucky lady? But the longer he watches, the more he realizes. His brother is slumped over, someone with their head tucked in at the crook of his neck. It doesn't take him long to realize what's actually going on.

He feels his hands wrap around his very own stake, hand carved on late nights when he stays awake and watches from the windows for the very people who'd killed his own parents all those nights ago. From nights where he roams through the house, locking every window, lining each doorway with garlic, doing whatever weird wive's-tale trick he's heard to make sure the family is safe. After Hiro took up bot fighting, he'd been even more careful. Lacing trackers in his brother's jacket. Teaching his brother safety the next year when he realized his brother really was good at bot fighting and didn't want to quit. Teaching him how to trust no one at night, because everyone was dangerous at night. Teaching him how to run. Just run as fast as you can after winning, because losing your life isn't worth losing the large sum of money you win each time.

And here, all his teachings, failed. His safety attempts, failed. He feels his feet move beneath him, screaming as he runs up, catches _it _by surprise, and throws it to the ground.

Tadashi Hamada doesn't have a violent bone in his body.

Until his little brother looks up at him, as if he's looking at Tadashi and can't put the pieces together, staring at him with the post pitiful look he's ever seen his brother give him. Tadashi's breath hitches; he feels his heartbeat race in panic and anger. He's bleeding from the neck, heavily. His baby brother, _hurt. _He glares at the monster, who doesn't even acknowledge his existence as it stands up. He pulls himself up, trembling from the fall. A numb pain shoots up his leg, but it doesn't matter to him.

It acknowledges his existence, boy does it. He swings his fist into its jaw, hurting himself more than it, but hears a satisfying crack. But it stops moving if only briefly, and as he approaches manages to knock his stake out of his hand and grab his brother once more. It goes flying into a nearby dumpster, and Tadashi curses his lack of luck. His eyes catch the glimmer of his brother's weapon on the ground, however; he quickly makes a move for it. The monster lets go of his brother in favor of him – another tasty treat, Tadashi assumes – and he quickly ducks down as it takes a swing, picking up the stake and whipping around, shoving it into its chest. The monster's much smaller than he is – barely taller than Hiro, he notes as the two of them collapse on the ground. It's easy to get it to the ground and keep it there.

He gives his brother a brief glance, hoping to see him get up on his own. He's not moving, but he's staring at Tadashi, his eyes watery and his body trembling. He looks like he's struggling to stay awake – Tadashi feels something catch in his throat and he looks towards the monster, a look of disgust crossing his face.  
>He's angry. He sees red. He loses control.<p>

Tadashi Hamada doesn't have a violent bone in his body until he's repeatedly stabbing the monster in the chest, harder and harder as each of itsscreams ring out into the night and its hands and legs begin to harden and gray – the color of ash, he notes briefly, as should happen. He watches it's hair turn to gray wisps. He scowls as it laughs, getting joy out of it. _I hate you, _he thinks, scowling, words too sharp on his tongue to let them ring out. _I hate you. I hate you. I despise you. I want. You. Dead._

"Come on, pretty boy," It coos. "Don't you want to play a game, too? One little bite, that's all I ask," She tries to taunt him. He keeps stabbing her. _No. Hell no. Leave. US. ALONE._

When the red blood stops going everywhere and the red in his face is gone and the life (_were they even still alive, he wondered?) _is going from the monster's eyes, he stops stabbing, staring at his brother as he does smaller and fewer stabs.  
>"He's one of us," <em>It <em>whispers while he looks away. The thought rings in his ears, filling him with dread.

Tadashi whips around, screaming out, and stabs it straight in the throat. It lets out a hoarse screech before fading into dust, it's eyes wide and shocked and in so much pain, and Tadashi feels a rush of relief. He feels awful, but content, and relieved, and all sorts of screwed up emotions for the situation.

"Screw you!" He screams as it fades to ash, watching his brother's stake fall over onto the ground. He shoves it in his pocket, and sits there for a few moments, just thinking. Trying to catch up with his mind. He takes heavy breaths and then, without hesitation, runs over to his brother, trying not to slip on the wet ground. Hiro's not moving, and he's still bleeding from his neck – not much anymore, but enough to cover his jacket and soak his little face and the ground. Tadashi leans down, picks him up, and holds his brother against his chest. He can feel his brother's faint heart beat, hear his labored, soft breathing. His skin is still slightly warm.

He's alive.

His brother is barely keeping it together, though; his eyes are half closed, but he's looking up at his brother with hazy eyes. "_Nii-san?" _He asks very softly. Tadashi hasn't heard Hiro call him that in years. In fact, he hasn't heard him call that since he was old enough to lean what had actually happened to his parents.

"_Nii-san, _is that you?" Hiro asks again, his voice hoarse. Tadashi snaps out of his zone-out, glancing down at his brother.  
>"<em>Otoutou-san," <em>Tadashi whispers, hugging his brother closer to his body. Hiro gives a thick cough and blood sprays all over Tadashi. He doesn't even acknowledge it, mind it. He just let's it happen, because there's nothing he can really do about it at the moment.

"_Nii-san," _Hiro whines. He's in a lot of pain – it's clear by the way he curls up upon himself. Hiro is _not _a whiny kid most of the time, and the fact that he's whining concerns Tadashi horrendously.

"I'm here, hey," Tadashi brushes a clump of hair from his brother's face. His brother looks so vulnerable; Tadashi has to choke back the shakiness in his voice. "You're going to be alright, okay?" Hiro's shaking a lot and Tadashi almost wishes that statement was true. He pulls his brother close to him, rocking him gently.

"H-hospital," Hiro breaths out, barely a whisper. "H-hospital,"

"I know, buddy, I know." He looks out to the street. There's two big problems. There's no way he's going to be able to take his brother on his scooter unless he wants his brother to die from a road rage accident, and he doesn't want to call an ambulance. In fact, the last place he wants to go is the hospital. They'll take him away...they always take them away now. So that the humans will be safe. He' seen more college classmates than he wants to think about, taken away from the school. He shakes a bit at the thought of his little brother, being shanked through the chest. It seems impossible.

It dawns on him that his brother is infected. He stares at him. His brother. He's...

He's going to be one of _them _if he doesn't hurry.

He picks his brother up, and with a hesitant thought, he picks up his brother's robot as well, knowing it's importance to his little brother, and starts running as carefully as he can without hurting himself and Hiro. The café is only two blocks away, and it's been closed since eight, so he knows Aunt Cass is probably sleep by now; it doesn't take her long to finish up her chores and she doubts Hiro left before helping her finish the last bits (in fact, he doubts Hiro left before Aunt Cass was asleep.)

As he approaches the café, he decides against waking up Aunt Cass. If she wakes up herself and notices her truck gone, so be it, but he can explain that easier than he can explain to a panicking Aunt Cass that her young nephew, her little brother's youngest child, has been bitten and infected. He opens the door to the truck in the driveway, lying his brother down as softly as he dare do. After a bit of thought, he quickly discards his cardigan and wraps it around his brother's shoulder, tying it as tight as the fabric will allow to press against the bleed.

He quickly jogs into the house, snatches his Aunt's keys, and climbs into the truck. For a moment he wonders if it was such a good idea to leave his scooter in an alleyway, but he discards that thought when his brother coughs again. He doesn't even buckle his seat belt at that point, but instead speeds hastily as fast as the streets will allow him to go. Every shortcut he knows is taken. His silent prayers ('_do not get stopped, do not get stopped_'!') work; he makes it to the college in record time, opening the door and picking up his brother and making a run for it.

Thankfully, it's so late in the night that very few people are on the campus. He's probably caught the eye of a few people, but either no one knows what to say or they all know what's going on, and keep to themselves. While it might be nice to get help, he knows that help will only slow him down, and he's kind of on a time budget. He just needs to get to Baymax.

Tadashi's never run faster in his life before. His feet barely touch the ground, Hiro steady in his arms as he twists through the building. A sharp left here, a curved right there. The elevator is the longest bit – it takes him a good minute to get up to the top floor where his lab is, but as soon as he's through that, he jogs to the room, hastily types in the code (it takes him a few tries – his fingers are shaky and wet and he misses keys here and there with each attempt) and jogs in. He cries out 'ow' and almost immediately, Baymax inflates. The older Hamada shoves a bunch of books off his desk with one swipe of his hand and lies his brother on the table as softly as he can. He'll have to clean this mess up later.

Baymax runs through his usual address, "Hello, I am Baymax, your personal health care assistant. Hello, Tadashi, what seems to be the problem? "

"Baymax. I need you to scan Hiro," Tadashi pauses. "Now." He points at the boy on the table. Baymax woddles over, but as he does, he states,

"Your heart rate and stress levels are abnormally high. It is my suggestion you take a seat and rest for at least ten minutes."

"I will, just...Baymax, get to Hiro first. Please and thank you," Tadashi collapses on his desk chair; it's only now that he realizes how fast his heart is racing. Baymax does a brief scan of Hiro, turning to Tadashi with the result on his stomach.

"It seems that Hiro has been infected with the virus 'Nyxotis Vamperosis'. Symptoms include drop in blood pressure, shaking, cut or halt in growth, a biological shift in bone growth, and an inability to clot blood." He concludes, a finger in the air. "Without proper treatment, it can result in either death or Vampirism."

"What's his infection rate?"

"One percent every minute." The robot says, showing the math on his screen.

"What percent is he at?"

"Fifty seven percent and counting."

Tadashi's stomach drops. "Which means?"

"According to my scan, Hiro's biological markers match that of a vampire. My diagnosis and programming both confirm that at forty-six percent is beyond cure. If I chose to care for him, he will undeniably become a vampire."

"A...a _what?" _Tadashi wheezes. Baymax tilts his head. Tadashi doesn't care for whatever Baymax is confused about, however – his brother is the only priority at the moment. His brother is the priority here. _Uno primero. _(Tadashi doesn't actually speak Spanish, but he's pretty sure the point still gets across.) His _otoutou-chan _is dying and becoming a vampire and he's freaking out.

"Hiro will become a vampire." Baymax says again, waddling over to his younger patient. "I am now going to administer the enzyme thrombin to trigger blood clots to avoid any more blood loss. Though Hiro's heart will stop beating soon, I am programmed to treat my patients with the best care before their death." Tadashi bites his tongue. He knows the process of the change. The way his brother's heart will stop beating, the way his eyes will turn a rich hue, the way his fangs will grow and his lust will grow. He's only a child. He's only a _god damned child._

He has half the mind to say '_stop' _but losing his brother?

He refuses. He can't lose another Hamada. Not this soon.

"Thank you, Baymax," Tadashi wheezes out. "I really appreciate it." He feels a few tears start to fall, and once the dose is administered to Hiro,Baymax waddles over to his creator. He pulls him into a gently hug, patting his head.

"There, there," He says. "You will be alright."

Tadashi gives a weak smile. Baymax may be a robot, but he warms up Tadashi like no other. Something about knowing you were the reason this is happening helps a lot. "Thank you, Baymax. You can let go of me now, I'll be alright."

"Tadashi, you are also my patient. Is there anything I can do to increase your emotional state?" Tadashi ponders this for a moment, wondering if...if it'll help to know what's going on. He decides to go ahead and go for the gold.

"Tell me, what happens now? Now that the blood's clotted?" Tadashi bites his lip, walking over to his brother. "What is the process of the infection?"

"Hiro's infection level is at 59%. In thirteen minutes, his heart will stop beating. In fifteen, his skin will start to change hue." The robot continues to list off the changes. The way he'll wake up, and he'll be hungry. The new set of biological rules that Hiro will have to follow to survive. The way he will be different, taking on more adult-like traits. Baymax makes note that Hiro is experiencing puberty, but doesn't go on to describe the conflicts, only that there will be some with his new shift in hormones. Tadashi just combs his brother's hair through his fingers, listening, each list sending panic up his body.

When Baymax finishes, Tadashi stands up, gives Baymax a gentle hug, and whispers very quietly, "I am satisfied with my care." Baymax nods, or as much as he can with his huge, balloon-y head, and goes back to his charging station. He watches as the box folds up before he lets all his emotions fly, kicking a desk and throwing himself on the rolling chair, resting his head in his hands. Tears fall without anyone stopping him; he gasps for air and lets it all go.

He's always been so strong for his brother; when his parents died, he didn't cry; when his brother had nightmares, he'd comfort him, telling him it'd be okay, even though the break in had scarred him for life too; when Aunt Cass found out she couldn't have children of her own, he'd sat by her, only eleven, holding her tightly and reminding her she had Hiro and Tadashi and that they loved her oh so very much.

But he can't be strong for himself. Tadashi Hamada cannot seem to keep the tears from falling. He doesn't say anything, but he manages to cover his mouth with one hand and silently sob. He stands up, knees shaking as he quietly walking over to his brother, raking his fingers through his brother's hair. He listens to his brother's faint heart beat, watches him breath in and out. His breaths are shallow, unlike Tadashi's wheezing. It's a touching scene, if not for the blood and the mess and the situation at hand.

He manages to get his emotions under control after a few minutes, taking deep breaths. In, one , two, three. Out, one, two, three, four. Over and over, deep breath after deep breath. _Aunt Cass taught Hiro and I this, _he thinks to himself, and it hits so close to home that he just begins to sob even harder, biting his tongue down.

When Hiro finally stops breathing, when his heart beat stops and he hears the last breath escape his lips, Tadashi starts to hyper ventilate. But this time, he doesn't cry – he manages to get the crying under control after a few minutes – or scream, but instead, takes quick, deep breaths and feels his face go red. He gets up, leaves the room, goes to the kitchen, needed a fresh breath of air. He decisively pulls out a clean dishcloth – Wasabi always makes sure to keep them in stock for when messes happen, especially when Honey Lemon's experiments are involved – wets it with warm water, and fills a bucket up with warm water as well. He takes this moment to pull himself together, get the tears under control and from falling down his face, his breath labored. He's glad no one's in the lab at this hour – he silently prays that doesn't change, either. He really doesn't want to explain the situation at hand.  
>He looks at himself in the mirror above the sink. His face is redder than it's ever been before, his nose is running, his eyes are bloodshot. He closes his eyes and quietly pulls himself together, reminding himself silently that it's always okay to cry. That he hasn't cried in years, and that it's a normal response to cry and feel sad and to feel like he's failed his brother. It's normal to make mistakes. It's normal for bad things to happen and that he should be grateful his brother didn't die.<p>

But the reality is, the boy in the room only a few doors down is not alive. When Tadashi walks back in the room with the bucket and the dishcloth, his brother's face is the palest he's ever seen it. His chest isn't moving up and down, and when Tadashi brushes a gentle hand against his brother's cheek, he almost pulls back out of fright – it's as cold as ice. His brother, who has always been the living heater of the family, feels like a glacier.

Seeing his brother like this reminds him of his parents at the hospital. He'd watched them die. He was holding Hiro in his arms, all twenty three pounds of him. Thirteen years he had put into making sure Hiro would never face the harsh reality of hospitals and vampires and death.

And yet, here he is, standing before his brother, a failure.

Tadashi is gentle when he starts to wipe away the blood – he won't be able to get it out of his brother's hair while he's unconscious, but he wipes it gently from around his face. He pulls his brother's shirt off, beginning to wipe his shoulder off. When most of his back is cleaned off, he begins on the chest, the arms, the upper neck. When he goes for the shoulder, and wipes away the blood, he sees the puncture holes.

The very ones that Hiro must have screamed when they were formed. The ones that broke the skin, the ones that were the gateway to the virus. He stares at the craters, running his fingers over them gently.

"What are you doing?" A voice rings out, and Tadashi jumps back. Hiro's eyes flutter open slowly, glancing at his brother with a confused look on his face. He reaches for where Tadashi touched him, and his eyes widen. "Oh no. Please, _please _tell me I'm dreaming. This is some sick prank, isn't it?"

Tadashi doesn't say anything. Hiro doesn't need him to say anything to know the answer. His brother _never _plays pranks when it comes to scaring him. He only plays the silly brother jokes, like the time he got syrup in his hair when Tadashi replaced the shampoo. Or the time he came in his room and everything was upside down. Never this. Never about vampires. Not after what happened to their parents.

Hiro looks around for clues to the situation. He finds a few. Two holes, cold skin, a blood stained dishcloth in Tadashi's hand. Hiro stops instinctively breathing, holding his breath for a few minutes, but he never needs to gasp for air. He doesn't feel that pain, his heart pulsing. In fact, he feels...nothing.

Empty. Dead. Hollow.

Hesitantly, Hiro does the one thing that can confirm what he is. He reaches up to check his pulse, and it's racing faster than anything that he's known before. And then, very hesitantly, he reaches up, opens his mouth, and pricks his thumb on one _very _sharp canine. His eyes widen, Tadashi looks down. Hiro knows.

He didn't get the antidote in time.

He didn't bleed out on the table, like he would have at the hospital.

He's sitting, with his brother looking at him like he might have made a mistake, hands folding under his chin.

He's ice cold. He's not breathing. His heart is racing too fast. His canine punctures a hole with little pressure.

And he knows. Oh, _he knows._

There's no looking back now.  
>Hiro Hamada, sixteen years young, sits up from the desk, not as a human,<p>

but as an ageless, newborn, _hungry_

Vampire.

**A/N:**

**There's probably a ton of super weird formating. **_I don't really know what's up with my writing software, but it doesn't really like formatting very much on AO3, and it __definitely __hates formatting on this site. I can't really fix any of it, so if any sentences look smooshed together, I'm sorry!_

_The next chapter will have a lot to do with exploring the new 'urges' that Hiro'll have. Hunger, a form of lust, and a lot of weird other feelings he gets. Also, a fight with Tadashi! And Tadashi trying to convince him to drink cow blood (ew!). Gonna be good! :3_

_See you next time! And again, thank you for all the positive notes!_


	3. Disbelief

_**A.N: **I'm sick, so updates are going to be slow and short for the next few days. _

_Thank you again for all the amazing reviews! Sorry if this has a lot of errors; I didn't have a lot of energy to edit it like I usually do. I might come back later. _

The first thing Hiro realizes when he wakes up is the feeling of a warm, wet cloth wiping at a very, very sore spot on his neck.

He opens his eyes slowly, blinking. He's never felt this exhausted before - his head is swimmy, reminding him of the times he's been sick before. His shoulder screams in pain, but he doesn't really react to it, because he sees Tadashi's face and he sees the blood all over his brother's face and on the washcloth and he jolts up, pushing himself up with no problem at all.

"What are you doing?" He demands, flinching when Tadashi backs away in fright. His head is pounding; what happened? He blinks a few times, racking his brain for any memories that might explain the situation at hand. He remembers going to the bot fight - did he get beat up? He remembers walking down the alley ways...

He remembers walking and being shoved against a wall. He remembers a wet tongue against his neck. He remembers the stinging feeling, the ice pounding through his veins as the woman tore open his neck. As his headache quickly relieves itself, he realizes more than he can chew.

"Oh, my god." He cries out, touching his neck. The spot is ridiculously sore and when he touches it, he flinches, the craters stinging with every light brush he gives it. He stares at his brother, looking for an answer.

Tadashi doesn't say anything, just stares at his brother with a mix of anger and concern. It's clear his brother has been crying; his face is still a bit red, and he can see streaks where his tears mixes with the splattered and smeared blood on his cheeks.

Hiro quietly holds his breath, a nervous habit of his that he never has grown out of. He counts to thirty, sixty, one hundred and fifty three before he begins to panic. His chest doesn't scream for air. He keeps holding it, his focus shifting entirely to his chest, feeling for anything that might still mean...mean that he's...

He's alive. Human.

When his chest fails to hurt, he checks his pulse. Tadashi watches him; Hiro makes eye contact for him for reassurance, and Tadashi just slowly looks more and more guilty, dropping the blood stained washcloth on the ground absent mindedly. Hiro touches the two fingers to his neck - his fingers are ice cold, and he can't figure out if it's because his hands are always cold or if it's because of the alternative - and he feels his heart pulsing far too quickly to be good. He takes a deep breath, closing his eyes.

There's only one final test, and he's too scared to touch his teeth with his tongue. Hiro takes his thumb up to his mouth, closing his eyes, taking a deep breath, even though he doesn't need to breath. He touches his canine, and it doesn't even take a handful of seconds with pressure to feel the canine break through his skin. He tastes the salty taste of blood and winces. He licks it gently, getting a taste.

It's not sweet. It's not delicious. It's salty and vaguely tastes metallic. He opens his eyes and begins to shake, putting things together softly and slowly.

"Hiro?" He hears his brother ask softly after a few minutes. Hiro looks up, watching his brother carefully as he walks up. "Are you okay?"

"I..." He touches his neck. "I'm...I'm okay, I think," He's not sure what else to say. He's alive, sort of. He's with his brother. The only thing that really bugs him is the growing feeling of hunger – a craving of some sort, that he instictually pushes back. _Cravings are bad. They're bad. You don't crave anything, Hiro. Nothing at all._

Tadashi grabs his shoulder roughly, his eyebrows furrowed. Hiro squeaks – it throws him off guard, and he dully notes that his brother's grasp doesn't actually hurt. "Then what were you _thinking? _I've told you time, and time, and _time again, _not to go outside when...when..._when this could happen!" _Hiro begins to shake, pulling his arm away forcefully, holding it against his chest. He feels his stomach twist when his brother throws his hands up in the air, crossing them. "_What where you thinking, Hiro, huh?" _He shouts.

"I didn't think this would _happen _to me!" Hiro chokes out, letting tears freely fall from his face. He's terrified. His brother never gets mad at him like this, and his shoulder hurts, and he doesn't need to breath, and he's craving something and he knows that it's blood he wants because he's read so many articles on vampirism after what happened to his parents. "I had my stake! I was so close to home! _I watched for people, Tadashi!" _

Tadashi bites his lip. Hiro doesn't make contact with his brother. He pulls his knees up to his chest instead, quietly shaking in his spot. He sighs softly. Tadashi follows up, pacing around the room.

"I thought you were going to die," Tadashi says, walking back and forth. Hiro doesn't say anything; he just whispers '_Regret. I regret this. I regret this. I regret this,' _over and over. Because he does regret it. He regrets not fighitng harder. He regrets not being stronger. He regrets not listening to his brother.

"I'm sorry," Hiro finally let's out, looking at his brother with the most hurt expression on his face.

"_Sorry?" _Tadashi shouts. Hiro knows it's because his brother cares about him, but it's hard to wrap that around the fact that he's also being yelled at. "I've told you time, and time, and time again! Bot fighing is illegal – yes, it's the _bidding, _but who goes to a _bot fight without bidding I mean come on Hiro – _and then when I started hearing news about vampires on this side of town I warned you and warned you and warned you. I gave you that stake. I told you _not _to trust anyone, and what do you do? You hook up with a _geisha!" _

"That's _not _what happened!" Hiro cries out. His brother rolls his eyes. Hiro thinks his brother is overreacting – and to be honest, he really is.

"Really? Because it sure looked like it to me! What kind of woman bot fights in expensive clothes like that? What kind of Geisha bot fights? Huh, Hiro?"

"I fought her in the ring!_" _Hiro is getting frustrated, standing up and closing in on his brother. He sees mild fear for a moment in his brother's eyes, and it hurts him. "I fought her in the _ring, _and she took pity on me because I'm just a _kid, _and I thought she was just bored or weird or something and wasn't going to corner me in an alley and try to...try to _seduce me _into letting her bite me!" Hiro pauses, then groans. _Rule number 3: Don't trust anything that looks out of pla – _

"Hiro! I've told you time, and _time again, _the three basic rules are carry your weapon, don't trust anything that looks like it's out of place, and _don't talk to strangers at night." _Ah, there is it, Hiro thinks to himself. "We told you, over and over!" He continues to degrade Hiro, and Hiro begins to get more and more frustrated. "I know you don't think it's a huge deal, okay? I didn't too, until I found out what had happened to mom and dad in the hospital. And now you. And I just...I don't know...I don't know what to do for you. I told you. Aunt Cass told you. _The schools told you. _It's simple! Don't go out at -"

"_Don't you think I _regret _it?!" _Hiro screams at the top of his lungs, slamming his fist on the desk and causing a few things off the fall off the wall. Tadashi winces, ducking his head, as does Hiro, both shocked by the strength. There's a small dent where he's punched the wall, and Hiro's stomach twists. He breaks down into muffled sobs. "I didn't think...I didn't know this would happen to me..._"_

Tadashi stands there for a few moments, staring up and down at his brother. Hiro looks at him for support, his hands slightly raising to his chest. Tadashi quietly walks over to his brother, bringing him into the biggest hug he can manage. Hiro can hear his brother's heart beat – normal, steady, not racing, not scared. His body is warm, his embrace welcoming, his blood desira-

Hiro throws himself away almost instictively, tripping and falling on the floor, taking deep breaths to calm himself down. He stares at his brother, wide eyed. He can feel his body shake as he thinks about it. His body telling him to sink his teeth into some part of his brother, to rip the blood from his skin. He subconciously raises a hand to his teeth, brushing it against his mouth, feeling the large canines.

"Hiro?" Tadashi asks, kneeling down. "What is it?"

"N-nothing," Hiro stutters, trying to keep eye contact with his brother. His body screams for some kind of food, though, and he instantly pushes the urges back. Every part of him is now screaming – screaming for something Hiro _refuses _to take part in. _He is not a monster._

"You smelled my blood, didn't you." Hiro curses Tadashi's ability to read his expressions, his reactions. Hiro begins to tear up again, even worse this time, wiping his face with the back of his hand. He pretends he doesn't feel the sharp, hard nails he's gotten from the transition, or how cold his skin feels against his face and hands. He pretends he can stop focusing on the idea of hunger, of thirst, of every feeling of his chest clenching and his body shaking and his body wanting to just...smother Tadashi.

He feels disgusted. Every part of him feels disgusting and he curls in on himself and begins to sob loudly. "I'm a monster! I'm a monster!" He cries out, trying to clear his head. He's tainted. He's disgusting. He's not supposed to feel this way towards Tadashi, towards his blood, towards his humanity, towards _anyone. _

He feels Tadashi wrap his arms around his waist, tucking the small boy under his protection. "I love you, you know that, right?" Hiro nods gently, pulling himself up from his curled up position. Tadashi lets him lay on his knees, lets Tadashi rake his fingers in his hair while he hiccups.

"W-what a-are we g-g-gonna do, T-tadashi?" Hiro chokes.

"I don't know, buddy," Hiro feels his stomach twist even worse. "But...but we'll figure something out."

Hiro nods, and the two of them sit there for a good chunk of time, Hiro crying, Tadashi trying to take care of his brother, until the sun rises and both boys are conked out on the floor, exhausted after a long, long day.

**A/N: **_I'm thinking of maybe writing the next chapter and then doing a time skip of a week at a time. Maybe put it in the perspective of Hiro's journal? Who knows. _

_For sure we're gonna be hitting fast pace plot. This might only be a few chapters, it might be more. I'm kinda considering not including Tadashi's friends (And Hiro's) because it might get a little complex. Who knows? Who knows... xD_


	4. Feed

**A/N: **_So begins the part where I actually decide to write what I want to write and not what should be in the story._

_I've been wanting to write this chapter for a while. I decided this fic might just end up being a vent fic – so I guess from now on, regular updates are dead? I don't _like _to write fics that aren't all over the place, so here we are. _

_Kinda...warning for this chapter? Implied Hamadacest? It's brief for like, five paragraphs tops. It's not like they're okay with it. Actually, quite the opposite – Tadashi and Hiro are disgusted by it. And not in this 'it's so wrong but so good' but actually like 'holy shit that's disgusting I hate how this makes me feel are you okay?' way. _

_Hhh other special warnings! There's a huge part about masturbation jokes here. (It DOESNT HAPPEN I swear I promISE), so expect awkward mentionings of...well, let's put it as 'Baymax, we know what 'tugging it' is, please deactivate this is already super awkward.'._

_Anyways, yes. Here we go. :33_

It takes a few weeks. Aunt Cass accepts her nephews back with open arms. Hiro is nervous and won't leave the house anymore. Even though he can go out into the sun – stupid books lied, did they – he didn't like to – his skin is pale and he burned easily, and his light colored eyes make him an easy target for anyone who has half an ounce of education on vampires. Tadashi had offered to go out and buy contacts to fix his eye issues – the grey they were now made him look even closer to death than before – and Aunt Cass had tried applying makeup to make him more lively.

But Hiro rejects these offers. He doesn't feel safe being inhuman. He tries to go to the grocery store with Aunt Cass when Tadashi falls sick with a small bout of the seasonal cold, but he ends up having a panic attack when he gets a weird look from a passerbyer. (It turns out his jacket was inside out, but it still causes Hiro to panic.)

Since Hiro isn't forced to go to school because he's already graduated, he spends most of his time in his room, reading books from his brother's desk. He hasn't touched his computer since his break down a few days after his infection – the tissues are still everywhere and he's definitely afraid he'll be hurt again if he looks up the reality of vampirism.

The reality that he _has _to have blood to survive. There is no other option.

He spends a lot of his time eating regular food – in fact, it's all does, he eats. Aunt Cass and Tadashi are none the wiser, or so Hiro hopes on the latter – Tadashi watches him with a careful eye. The food almost mocks him, however; it doesn't satisfy his hunger, and his stomach growls constantly, quietly, just enough to drive him almost crazy. He doesn't even gain weight – he's still at 93 lbs, all 5'2" of him. At one point, he even tries to drink his own blood, but it's disgusting and salty and copper like it was the first night. Another night, he tries raw steak, but all it does is give him stomach cramps and make him gag just from the smell.

So he stops trying. He refuses to take blood from other sources. He decides to starve himself, because he figures he'll be able to live. As far as he knows, vampires are immortal. He's heard about how some of the original ones from when vampires were first discovered are still around. He reads about how fast their bodies heal – how fast _his _body will heal. He figures, sure, it'll drive him crazy, but it means not hurting another person.

Tadashi picks up his brother's eating habits right off the bat. Hiro's always eaten more than he can chew, and then regretted it for an hour after dinner, but he can't hep but to notice that his brother hasn't been doing anything of the sort – in fact, he just seems to stay in bed longer and longer. After four and a half weeks have passed, he finds his brother laying on the bed one morning, dizzy and disorientated.

"Hiro?" He asks, peeking from over on his side of the room. He gets a muffled 'yeah?' in reply. "You okay?"

"Just dizzy, that's all,"

"Sure," But Tadashi knows the difference. He knows his brother has been starving. So he does a little research and finally gets the name of a small place on West 1231st Street, only a ten minute bike ride on his moped if weather permits. He quietly slips on some nice clothes and discards his hat for his helmet, and tells Hiro he'll be back as soon as he can.

….

Tadashi parks his moped a few blocks away from 1231st and Osaka Road, in a quiet little parking lot of an abandoned storefront. The walk is slow and quiet; He sees a few people watch as he walks down an alleyway filled with the homeless. He walks up to a rather dirty man, who's carelessly digging through his backpack for something. Tadashi leans down to be eye level with him.

"Pardon me?" He asks, looking for the man's attention. He looks up briefly at Tadashi, and Tadashi feels the man's steel blue eyes dig into his skin. "Do you know where I can find the Blossom Tree Court?"

"Y'mean the whorehouse?" The man asks, his voice raspy. Tadashi can almost smell the rotting gums in the man's mouth. "Down there," He points to a darker part of the alleyway. "Take a left, n'then a right. Can't miss it. Girls in kimono's everywhere." Tadashi raises a brow at the man's hesitance. The man must pick up on Tadashi's judging, because he cracks a smile. Don't'cha get me wrong, kiddo. They nice gals," He adds as an after thought. "But b'careful. Ain't what'ya think they are. Lookin' for a girl in particular?"

"No," Tadashi says, shaking his head. He doesn't really want to talk to this man about why he's looking for the Blossom Tree Court – the whore house, so it's called around these parts. "Well, yes. But I'm not sure if she'll be of any help," The man tilts his head curiously.

"Bet'chur lookin' for Sayuri, ain't'cha bucko?" Tadashi nods at the answer, and the man lets out a deep chuckle. "Nice lady. She's'em...one of 'em bloodsuckers. Trust m'kiddo, you ain't wan'know wha's like t'be one." He flashes a toothy grin and Tadashi stares at the yellowed fangs of the man. "Made my mistake. Best'ya not go for a changin' – ain't an easy life. Ain't like the books,"

"I'm not aiming to get turned," Tadashi says, shaking his head.

"That's what'ey all say," The man says, shaking his head. He shoos the young man off, watching him quietly slip into the dark alleyways.

It takes only a minute or two for Tadashi to find the court, and he's greeted by many smiling men surrounded by women. Tadashi rubs sweaty palms against his pants, giving nervous smiles to everyone he sees. One rather young woman, with a pretty heart shaped face, greets him as he walks by.

"May I be of assistance?" She asks, bowing politely to him. Her pink kimono reveals a little too much skin and it makes Tadashi's heart race a little. _Get yourself together. You're here for Hiro._ He bows back politely, much to the shock of the woman.

"I am looking for Sayuri," Tadashi says, and the woman nods. She gestures for him to follow her, straightening her back as she takes quick, tiny steps towards the building's entrance. Tadashi looks at the ornate decorations, the curtains, hears the sounds of women's laughter and the clinking of glasses. The woman takes him through a set of large sliding doors, the bamboo ornate, and to a rather ornate maroon curtain, opening it up. Inside, he sees the back of a geisha smoking a rather long pipe.

"Akami, to who I owe the honor?" The older voice calls out. The woman replies,

"A young man, Sayuri-san. He has requested to speak to you specifically."

"Allow him in and close the doors. I can assure you I know what it is," Sayuri replies. Tadashi feels a shiver run down his spine as Akami pushes him into the room, quietly bowing and leaving with a frown on her face. He only takes his eye off her briefly to take in the room – it's large and smoky and smells of tobacco – and then watches her until the doors close. Only then does he take the polite, quiet steps towards Sayuri, who still has her back turned to him.

Sayuri turns after a moment, and Tadashi is taken aback. Her face is slim, with high cheek bones that dip in. She is still rather young looking, maybe fourty or fifty, and her hair reaches the floor despite it being braided and held up by several ornate chopsticks and hair pieces. She gives a gentle smile, and he can see the tips of her fangs peek out.

"Another willing?" She asks. Tadashi shakes his head 'no'. The woman raises a brow, taking long strides towards him. Her rich red kimono is laced with gold dragons, and makes her look fierce. Her grey eyes take in all of Tadashi; she slides her fingers against his neck and Tadashi shivers, closing his eyes and wincing.

"Why are you here, young boy?" The woman asks slowly, sniffing the boys hair and walking circles around him. She's a lot taller than the one geisha he'd slayed, which makes him slightly uncomfortable. Her thin fingers play with his hair, rub his shoulder, and Tadashi can't move. Finally, he finds the words to speak again, through the shivers of fright and uncertainty.

"My brother was infected." He let's out. Sayuri pulls her hand back to her chest, raising a brow and frowning deeply.

"I'm sorry to hear that," She says sympathetically. "Please, take a seat. Surely you came here after hearing of my offered advice," Tadashi nods, taking a seat. She pours a cup of tea – it smells of fruits and peppermint. "I swear, no blood involved," She says with a laugh when Tadashi hesitates to sip from it. "I just enjoy tea. Always have."

"Thank you," Tadashi says back, taking a sip. It warms his body from the cold fright.

"How long has your brother been infected?" Sayuri asks, stirring a honey stick in her tea before taking a sip. Tadashi explains that it's been about five weeks.

"I killed the vampire that changed him..." Tadashi murmured.

"Ah, yes," Sayuri shakes her head. "Probably our local bot fighter, Hana-chan. She was going off the deep end, always full of hate and despise. I'm sorry she almost killed your brother, Tadashi-san. Your _otoutou _did not deserve such a fate. How old is he?"

"Sixteen,"

Sayuri nearly drops her cup, staring at Tadashi. "But...so _young!" _Her accent is heavy with Japanese dialect, perhaps due to her age. "Tell me, has he been feeding well? Has he hurt anyone? Oh, I fear for him..."

"That's why I came," Tadashi said, pulling out a stray note from his pocket. It's from Hiro's journal. Tadashi feels bad for digging through his brother's stuff, but it was the only way he knew to really get the message across. Sayuri takes the paper and scans it, tsking here and there.

"He needs to feed. Five weeks of starvation is deadly to a human, but to a vampire, it is dangerous as well. This," She points to the line that reads _'I just won't eat. I'm not a monster.' _"Is why Hana-chan went crazy from time to time. She hated feeding. Felt so violated doing so. And then she would get crazy and drink and go party and we would all wonder what was going on in that brain of hers."

Tadashi asks for suggestions, and Sayuri gives him a look of contemplation. "He needs to eat soon," She tells him, digging around. "Unfortunately I do not think my blood will do him well. It's old, and he is a newborn. He'll need it fresh for a few years. No big deal, not really," Tadashi shakes his head.

"Uhm, no offense, but how is he gonna get blood with out... you know, _killing _or _infecting _anyone?"

Sayuri taps her fingers, laughing and shaking her head. "Fool, you are. Infections only happen when we inject the serum into your body through our fangs. We never bite, we cut and we feed, unless we intend to kill...or lose control..." She shakes her head. "Of course, our saliva makes an interesting time for the person we feed off of."

"Huh," Tadashi says, smiling gently. "I never thought of it that way. I always assumed...y'know, you aimed to kill."

"If we aimed to kill, Hamada," Sayuri leans forward, smiling. "You'd already be dead by now. Now, my services are not free." She pulls out a vial from her desk and puts it in front of them. "But for you I will not ask much. Hand me your hand." Tadashi stares at her, and stares at the vial.

"You...you want my blood?" Tadashi shakes his head. "No. I...that's weird. I'm sorry." But before he can pull his hand to his chest, Sayuri grabs it and cuts his wrist. He flinches, letting out a large startled cry. "What the-?!"

He watches the vial fill up quickly, unable to really do anything. The vampire goes to lick his wrist, and he let's her – she smiles at him and shivers of pleasure run down his spine as she does so. He pulls his hand away slowly, noticing that there's only a faint scar where he'd been slit, as if the wound had just healed and was slightly pink.

"Saliva heals, but it also has special properties," Sayuri explains. "Sorry if I scared you," She adds. "Most of my customers want to be changed, so I trick them into giving me their blood claiming it's par to of the change. Very rarely do I do it. Only when they are sick, or want to die, do I ever." She sighs, sticking the vial in her drawer. "You have very pure blood. Sweet, not with any alchohol or nicotine or even too much sugar. You must live a healthy life,"

"I like to stay fit," Tadashi says with a smile, unsure of what to say to the compliment.

"It's good. Bring your brother in tomorrow. However, he'll need something sooner than later. Now, my recommendation is that you allow your brother to feed off of someone he's close to. Does he have a mate?"

"No..." Tadashi sighs. "He's not into the whole 'kissing' thing. Or dating."

"Friends he's very...feely with?"

"The only friend that would let him touch him is Fred," Tadashi snorts. "Maybe Honey. But they'd freak if they ever knew what he was."

"Mmm."

"There's me. I could...that wasn't so bad. I'll just let him feed off me."

Sayuri shakes her head slowly. "I'm not sure that is a very good idea," She admits, but she doesn't say why. Tadashi assumes it's because they're siblings.

"Is it painful?" Tadashi asks.

"Not...exactly," Sayuri says slowly, watching the boy stand up with a smile. It's all Tadashi really needs to hear to get enough bravery together.

"Look, I really appreciate your help. I'll bring him in tomorrow, so you can meet him." And with that, before he can chicken out, he gives a polite bow and then runs out of the house, to his scooter, and to home.

Sayuri simply stays at her desk, shaking her head. "He is certainly going to regret this," She mumbles before taking a long drag from the pipe held by her delicate hands.

...

Hiro sits up from his bed, staring at his brother. "Why do you have a knife in your hand?" He asks cautiously, looking between the knife and his brother's face. Tadashi swallows, quickly walking over to his brother. "Oh no, you're not serious. Dude, if I promise to go tomorrow, can we skip today?"

Tadashi had explained as soon as he got home about his run in with Sayuri and what they'd discussed. Hiro had been estatic – help for him to understand his powers was great news! But now Tadashi was acting weird and he knew why. Hiro bites his lip, shaking his head. "I don't want to hurt you," He says, his voice laced with concern.

"Hiro," Tadashi says softly. "It'll be easier if your...first experience is with someone you know," He pretends the words Sayuri had said weren't so confusing. "Look, Sayuri said it's not going to be painful, so it's not going to be painful." He doesn't give Hiro a chance to answer. He rips the knife down on his skin where he'd been cut before, wincing as he feels the extra sharp edge cut finely into his skin. The blood pours from the back of his arm freely, and Hiro stares at it with fascination.

"A-are you sure?" Hiro asks, his eyes not leaving his brother's arm. Tadashi puts his arm out for his brother, taking a seat on his brother's bed. The blood drips down on the floor, but Tadashi can easily clean it up if he needs to.

"I'm sure," The older Hamada replies firmly. Hiro shivers in a strange sense of anticipation. The feeling of confusion is gone. The feeling of insecurity is leaving him. This is his chance. He might as well.

Hiro nods, closing his eyes and masterfully meets his lips to Tadashi's arm. Tadashi shudders; goosebumps appear on his skin as Hiro leans into his arm, his fangs brushing gently against the smooth skin. His younger brother begins to suck away at the blood, shivers running through both of their bodies. It's a weird sensation, Tadashi decides, not bad, but certainly not good. In fact, he decides it's rather pleasant, just like when Hiro runs his fingers through his hair when Tadashi's sick. He closes his eyes, enjoying the...well, he wasn't sure what it was, but it was comforting. Mother nature sure did it's trick.

And then something happened and it was suddenly the best feeling he'd ever had in his life. Tadashi bit his lip, trying to get the feelings of ectasy going through his blood to stop. _So this is why she kept asking him about anyone other than himself, _Tadashi thinks to himself, his face turning red. He'd totally forgotten one of the most dangerous parts of vampirism.

The enzyme in the saliva triggered the same hormones in...

_Arousal. _

Hiro continues to feed on his brother, getting into it. Tadashi looks up at the ceiling, leaning back and trying to get his heart to slow down. Hiro licks at his arm, and with every lick, Tadashi has to fight a sound escaping his lips. He bites down hard on his lip, trying to ignore the feelings. _This is screwed up. This is screwed up. Hiro knows it. I know it. I...regret this. _Hiro doesn't seem to notice; if anything, he's so engrossed in the blood and the ability to feed that he doesn't even notice Tadashi wincing and his face as red as a tomato.

"H-Hiro," Tadashi stutters through labored gasps. "Hiro, I n-need you to s-stop, please,"

Hiro doesn't pay any mind to what Tadashi is saying. He can't really focus, the blood is too delicious and he feels his body warm up and rejuvinate and he feels _so, so much better. _

At first, Hiro is disgusted by the idea of drinking blood, but as soon as he takes a taste, his mouth explodes in a variety of sweets and salties and everything delicious in the world. He can't quite put his tongue on what the taste is, but it's so irrestistable, so delicate, so..._new _that he can't help but to indulge in as much as he can. It sends shivers down his spine, it fills him with this wonderful feeling that he just craves, and even when Tadashi tries to pull his arm away, he keeps at it, lapping the wonder up like candy and he –

_Hiro. Please. You're... _Hiro blinks, opening his eyes and looking up. Tadashi has his hand over his mouth, his eyes squeezed tight, his face bright red. Hiro lets go, and Tadashi falls back against the wall, taking deep breaths. His wrist still bleeds freely, and Hiro licks the red blood around his lips off. The taste doesn't leave his mouth right away.

Tadashi stares at his brother, his face still red and his breath labored. He leans forwards, offering his arm up again. "D-do you need more?" He asks, but Hiro shakes his head. "Okay, just...lick the rest. Sayuri said...your saliva'll heal it up. I saw it myself."

Hiro stares at his brother's arm, and quietly nods. He licks up the liquid food and almost moans from the taste, but holds it back. The wound heals quickly, and Tadashi allows him to lick the last few drops of the injury's juices before he pulls his arm back. His face is still beat red, and he crosses his legs awkwardly. They sit there for a few moments, Hiro licking his lips to enjoy the taste and Tadashi trying to get his heart rate under control. It doesn't take Hiro even a few moments to realize, however, why Tadashi is so out of breath –

"Dude, did you get a _boner _from me drinking your _blood?!" _Hiro gave the most disgusted face he could and his brother quickly pulled the blankets from Hiro's over his pants.

"It was the _saliva, _I swear!" Tadashi said, coughing a bit and stuttering and covering his face with his hands in sheer embarassment. Hiro burst out into the laughter. Tadashi just shook his head.

"We're disgusting," Hiro said. "Oh my god. That's just..._wow." _

"Dude, this isn't funny," Tadashi muttered. He honestly felt like puking. How disgusting was it that he'd been...sexual aroused by his own little brother. Mother nature made children of incest deformed just so that people wouldn't try to make thse things a reality. It was shunned upon. Tadashi shook in place and Hiro stopped laughing when he realized –

_He'd been attracted to Tadashi, too._

"Oh my god," He let out, his face turning paler – shockingly possible in the situation. "This is...no. This is disgusting. Ew. Ugh. We _can't _do this again," He told Tadashi firmly.

"Good thinking, _Sherlock," _Tadashi hissed between the hands covering up his face. He swatted at Hiro and Hiro let an involuntary, reactionary 'ow'.

The two of them paused when they heard the inflation.

"Oh god," Hiro said, covering up his face. Tadashi's face turned an impossible red color and he crossed his fingers that Baymax wouldn't notice his blood pressure and –

"Hello, I am Baymax, your personal health care companion. Hello Hiro, hello Tadashi. I will now scan yo-"

"Baymax, no!" The two boys shouted in near uniso-

"Scan complete. There seems to be an increase in hormone activity. Diagnosis: Sexual arousal."

"Oh my god, you didn't program him to -"

"We had to have the talk _eventually," _Tadashi muttered. He was already regretting his decision to program this part of the robot – "I just thought it would be easier to have Baymax explain it..."

"Treatments include releaving tension through conscentual sexual activities such as -"

"_What?!" _Hiro let out, his face turning red. "Baymax, we're_ brothers. _There is no way we are -"

"These treatments will not work between two related members of the same family, or not so safely." Baymax affirms, "My next treatment suggestion would be self pleasure through mast-"

"_WHAT." _Both of them screamed, looking at each other. The sheer look on both of their faces confused Baymax. Tadashi had programmed him to provide the best solutions that made the patient's health skyrocket, and after all, these were normal human activities. Perhaps Hiro was not aware of what masturbation was? He was sure that the younger Hamada had at least heard of it.

"Masturbation may also be known as wanking off, tugging it, -"

"Baymax," Hiro said between clenched teeth. "We _know _what 'tugging it' mean-"

"Thank you, Baymax. I know the ad-advice I gave y-you to to tell patients," Tadashi interrupts him. "I will do what I think is best for my situation. I am s-satisfied with my care." He's thankful that Baymax says nothing about his embarrassing stuttering, instead turning around and deactivating. When the robot is finally back in it's box, Hiro and Tadashi spend a few awkward moments glancing at each other, Hiro's arms crossed and Tadashi with defeated shoulders.

Then Hiro cracks a smile.

"I still can't believe you got a boner from me,"

"Oh my _God, shut up!" _

**A/N: **I am trash and we all know it.

I don't ship Hidashi at all, to be honest, not in like the whole 'wow bro ur so sex much wow' way. But I do enjoy writing awkward situations because I feel like Hiro would just tease his brother and Tadashi would do the same in this kind of situation.

Idk if any of you guys are into other fic recommendations, but I gave a few a shot just to see how other fanfiction artists interpreted vampirism, – but there's a two fics I wanted to point out that are REALLY good (They're both also Hidashi, so warning for those who don't like that):

- Immortals by TheEmCee is a mix of common day vampire stereotypes and historical stereotypes, and basically revolving around Hiro being the first 'born' vampire and the new vampire king and it's so cute!

- Jiangashi (Warning: M Rated Content) by KudaKano –_ I took a lot of inspiration from their work about the sexuality of vampires and what not for this chapter._ Basically, Kuda's fic, Tadashi comes down ill and Baymax can't diagnose him, and it turns out that Tadashi needs blood from Hiro to feel better. Hiro goes out to seek the advice of woman to help him figure out how to help Tadashi. (The end is super smutty and so I read the comments about what people said about it – _I get so easily flustered dear god send help – _so from the sounds of it that last bit was SUPER good.)

Okay yeah that's it from me! I'm sorry for the late updates. Finals week, whooooot!))


	5. Murder

**A/N: Chapter 6 will be coming out in a few weeks, but the 'fake' chapter 6 is just a page of references that will be coming out tomorrow. Sorry, replies will be slow! Don't know where to go with this dang fic. :c I wanted it to fly fast but not too fast, but whoops. Here it is. :'D;; I got bored.**

**Summery: Hiro's first feeding night turns into something much, much worse as a secret is revealed. **

Sweat drips from his arms and he quickly rubs them against his shirt, trying to get the salty water off his hands. He doesn't need air, true, but his body still hurts from dying to breathe, a subconscious need from his human days. His hair sticks to his face and his body is covered in blood that isn't his and it smells so good and tastes even better and makes his body quiver with anticipation and...and...

_Oh gods, they ripped her apart. They ripped her apart and sucked her dry. _

Hiro shakes, collapsing to the ground of the dark, wet alley way, tears finding their way across his face. It he'd known...oh _gods if he'd known..._he never would have trusted Sayuri. He never would have trusted the women and men who were vampires in that house. He never would have fed on anyone other than Tadashi. Hell, he would have put up with Tadashi's obsessiveness over him lately if it'd meant no one would have been murdered.

He can still hear her _screams. _The screams of seven people, including himself, leaping on her as soon as the clearance was given. He shudders as it plays through his mind. How Sayuri could only say a few words, and how his eyes strained, and his ears rung, and the promise of blood meant that the pain would all go away. How he didn't have control over his body as the overwhelming scent of iron and salt filled his nose. How it tasted, the mix of blood and confusion, so luxurious, so fine.

Hiro shakes and quivers and the tears won't stop and he's run for at least two hours, and he's not on his side of town, and he's scared for his life and even more so for his Aunt and brother's because Sayuri has a stake through her heart now and six very angry vampires are probably seething to call him out and murder him and oh god oh god _oh god _he's going to die and he just knows it.

He didn't mean for Sayuri to die. He really didn't. Wrong place, wrong time. The police caught them and they'd fled. They didn't hate him, did he? Because he saw Sayuri go down, screaming as the electricity from the tazer shot her down and electrocuted her and oh god she's dead she's dead his mentor is dead.

Hiro struggles to stand up but decides to instead stay on the ground, letting the water pour over him. He instinctively curls up on himself, trying to breath. Trying to figure out what he'd say to his brother.

_I'm sorry, Tadashi. We trusted the wrong vampire. She's a monster. _Was _a monster, I should say. _

–

"It's been two weeks, Hiro," Tadashi says, wrapping his arms around his brother after their latest feeding. Hiro shivers as Tadashi brushes fingers against his neck. It's not a romantic gesture, no. They'd determined that no – it wasn't more than just the hormonal effects of the saliva. That it was natural. That plenty of people just lived with the feelings. They were just brothers; it was just nature's way of making it easier on the prey and predator. But Hiro finds it comforting to sit in his brother's lap, just talking.

"I know, I know," Hiro says, quietly staring at the wall. He's starting to get used to wearing the brown contacts now, but he still can't get over how pale he is compared to his brother. Tadashi's Asian heritage shows more when Hiro sits against him, his pale skin against sun kissed tan. "I'm going feeding tonight for the first time."

–

They all stand in an alleyway. It's raining, and they're circling around a tall woman with blonde hair and tan skin. She looks terrified, and Hiro almost thinks he can recognize her. But it's too dark to really tell, and the whole 'I can see in the dark!' bullshit infuriates him. He's still as blind as ever.

The woman looks terrified, and Hiro shakes in the spot. Sayuri coaxes the woman, but she doesn't seem convinced. Hiro can't hear what anyone is saying – his ears started ringing out of nowhere and it's driving him insane. The others look at him sympathetically. It must be a feeding thing, he decides, and he tries to look for body language.

The tall woman is still shaking.

Sayuri is leaning in, smiling at her.

–

"Come on, Hiro, please." The smell of whiskey leaves Hiro with his stomach in knots. Tadashi has him pinned against a wall, leaning into him. Sure, Hiro's grown a lot in the last two years (a whole seven inches!) but his brother still towers him by several, and is much, _much _more muscular than him. His brother gives a sloppy grin.

"Tadashi, no. This is becoming an addicting. Sayuri was right." Hiro scowls at his brother as his brother settles his nose into Hiro's unruly hair. "You're becoming addicted to my saliva. You also smell like whiskey, which means _someone _hooked you up and I bet you anything it was Gogo." He's not angry, really, but he is a little frustrated at the fact his brother's been drinking, on a school night, no less.

"Please," Tadashi says, taking deep breaths and pressing himself against Hiro. Hiro flinches and pushes his brother away. His brother turns, upset, and Hiro feels pity. He really wants to. He really does.

But he can't take advantage of his brother anymore. Especially when he's drunk. Especially when Tadashi is stronger than Hiro, and he's not aware of what he's doing...and especially when Hiro feels the same way Tadashi does when he's drunk drinking Tadashi's blood. He wants to hide it as much as Tadashi does.

Hiro wants all of Tadashi. Wants to kiss him, love him, become one with him...

And it makes Hiro want to throw up because he doesn't feel that way at all when he's not drinking his blood, and it makes him scared. Scared he'll hurt Tadashi. Scared he'll end up hurting their relationship and their family life and Hiro is just so scared that he ends up turning his back to Tadashi and lacing up his shoes. He quickly yanks his brother's SFIT hoodie over his head, and sighs.

"Tadashi, I have to go. The feeding's tonight." He lies through his teeth. Well, not entirely. He doesn't _have _to go, but Sayuri offered and he wants to take Sayuri up on this offer because Tadashi's his big brother and he's not taking advantage of his brother or letting it become the other way around. He's scared. He's frightened. They both don't want this. No. Not at all.

He gives Tadashi one brief hug, and leaves the room with quiet steps. He pauses at Aunt Cass's door, giving her a small wave. He feels guilt rushing through him when he sees her reading up on vampires – he knows she hated them, but she's trying her best to learn so she can be there for her son, with all hesitance in mind. She waves back from her bed, setting down her book. She mouths 'good luck, sweetie', and Hiro gives her a silent nod and heads through the back door and into the night.

He's so lucky to have such caring people in his life, even if they do have to fight to care or get drunk on school nights.

The headache gets worse, and the ringing louder. Sayuri punctures the woman and the blood won't go away. It consumes Hiro. It brings him in.

He hears her voice, raspy and broken in his mind. "Kill her. Eat her. Consume her. She is yours." His body starts moving involuntarily. He can't hear. He can't see. He gets closer, feeling his heart race and his fingers wrap around her neck and he's breathing in her as a whole and she shivers and _no, no. It's okay. You're okay. Shh._

He tastes her and she tastes like rainbows and glitter and a bunch of other wonderful, bright things, and he shivers. And then, something inside him clicks, and his nails, rough and sharpened just for the feeding, rip into her skin with a satisfying wet noise and he loses control the second the blood sprays onto his tongue.

–

The sirens roar loudly and Hiro stands up, straightening himself from the corpse, a piece of meat still in his hand, half sucked dry. At the end of the alley way stands several police officers, and he can recognize the purple and red suits from anywhere.

_The Hunters. _He recalls their name sharply because he talked to several people after his parents died over the years about what had happened, if he'd remembered anything. He remembers because he's been avoiding them since the change. He remembers because they're nearing, and he can recognize Wasabi among them, one his brother's best friends, staring at him, and he prays that they can't see him. Can't recognize him, being covered in blood.

They start running, the other vampires do. He stares down at the mess at his feet and he stares at Sayuri, who is tangled in her kimono. He has to help her. She's his mentor. He reaches out to her, but before he can even get a foot forward, he watches a tazer attach itself to her body and electrocute her, sending her down. She screams and it rips through Hiro with pain. He sees the others starting to run after him.

He starts running. Running. _Running. _He's always been fast. He could have been in track if his asthma hadn't made it hard for him to breathe. But without that issue, he runs faster. Gets ten, twenty, thirty meters. Vampires are much faster than humans, but it's mostly because they don't have to breath. Stability. Slightly super human abilities.

He keeps running, and he refuses to stop. The rain hits him hard, his him cold, but he runs.

Running, running, _running._

–

_She's screaming. MAKE HER STOP. MAKE HER STOP. MAKE HER – _

One of the vampires, a tall woman with blonde hair in a high bun, rips her claws and literally rips the neck of the girl open, spraying blood all over the six of them. Hiro backs away – the scent of blood is great and he licks it from his arms.

He blacks out.

And then he fades back into reality and he's tearing apart the girls chest and sucking chest muscle dry. It's delicious and wonderful and he watches as they rip open arms and necks and fill up vials with sweet, sticky blood. Sayuri is carefully carving the tongue out of the girl, looking at it with joy.

Cannibalism never occurred to Hiro before, but the meat of the human is so wonderful and he can't stop and well, she's already dead, so why not? He keeps ripping her apart, sucking on bits and pieces and completely unable to stop until the body is gone.

–

He trips about three hours in, and scrapes his side up pretty badly against the hard pavement of the ground.

–

Hiro quietly pulls himself up from his position when he starts seeing the sun come up. A normal person might not notice the first few shades of lightening blue, but Hiro recognizes it and he picks himself up, ignores the pain, and quickly finds himself running down the street, trying not to trip and fall as he tries to avoid getting the worst sunburn in the middle of October. That's the best way for him to get caught if he has to go downstairs, and he'd rather not.

He takes the alley ways, thankful for his years of bot fighting as he slips between buildings, his bloodstained clothing (Thank god it's mostly black, he thinks) heavy against his legs. He makes it to cafe just as dawn breaks, and he can't help but to notice that there are police officers in front of the cafe, Aunt Cass sobbing on the front porch steps. He slips through the back door of the garage and silently thanks the gods for the incinerator. He briefly considers sucking out the blood from the outfit, but quickly favors tossing it into the lazer incinerator that Wasabi had built for them.

Wasabi.

_Oh shit._

Hiro strips down, tossing every last bit of clothing into the incinerator and then hopping into the shower. He locks the door for good measure, and then hops into the shower. He washes his hair once, and he cringes as the pink water swirls around his feet, going down the drain. He wipes the walls with a washcloth and scrubs his hair a few more times, until he's gone two times in a row without any trace of blood. He scrubs his skin until it's raw, the soap masking the smell of blood. He hops out of the shower and dries himself off, reaching blindly around until he realizes.

He doesn't have a change of clothes with him.

He quickly ties a towel around his waist, picks up the wet towels and the washcloth, and rinses out the tub for good measure. When the room looks spotless, he tosses all of the blood contaminated materials into the incinerator, watching it go from cotton to dust in seconds.

He slips into the hallway to the laundry room, and digs through the dryer. He's slightly disappointed to see it's nothing but Tadashi's clothes and a few odds and ins, but never the less, he pulls out a pair of dark blue sweatpants and a grey t-shirt and a pair of (thankfully, his own) underwear and starts to get dressed. Right as he's about to pull the pants over his red boxers, a door is opened and a young man squeaks loudly.

"Pardon me!" He says, closing the door. Hiro panics and runs into the garage, hastily digging around in the drawers. His brown contacts – his spare – were in his pocket, and he curses to himself. He hastily finds a pair of sunglasses on his desk from the late nights he'd get migraines, and sets them on his face. He can't help but to laugh at the sheer amount of stuff he has for a situation like this.

A situation of murder.

Hiro quickly walks back into the main room of the cafe. Usually he'd smell fresh pastries, but today, he sees Aunt Cass sitting and crying, and Tadashi with his arms crossed, a look of despair on his face. For a moment, he wonders if they're worried about him not returning last night. But as he steps closer, a police officer – the one who'd opened the door on him, the one with brown hair and big brown eyes – greets him.

"Officer Jackson Overland," He introduces himself. He's as pale as Hiro. "You must be Hiro. Your aunt reported your albinism. Why ya wear the shades, ye?"

"Yeah," Hiro quickly catches up on the lie, and touches his shades. "If it bothers you, I can always go put in my contacts, they help with the whole bright thing," He knows he's bullshitting but Tadashi nods, playing along with the lie. Thank god for his brother's ability to pick up on when Hiro really needs him.

"Well, we were going to ask you a few questions," Jackson says, looking at a tall man with graying hair. "But Aster here already confirmed from your aunt and your brother that you were sleeping in the garage all night, and seeing as you came from the garage, I have no reason to speculate otherwise. I trust that Tadashi and you are both great people. Your records stand correct to our data. We'll come and talk to you if we have any first questions." With that, Jack flips his notepad, and Aster and Jack begin to walk out. Hiro stops them quickly.

"What's going on? If I can ask?" Jack's frown deepens and he gives a sympathetic tilt of his head.

"Officer Harold Haddock reported a murder last night on his way home from his girlfriend Astrid's house," The tall Australian officer reports. "My team responded last night. Doctor Toothiana and Doctor Rapunzel both reported that a young woman, approximately 6'3" with long blonde hair and of latino heritage, weighing possibly around 142 lbs, was found at 2:13 AM..." He hesitates.

"Go on, please," Hiro says, almost a whisper. Aster and Jackson exchange looks and Jack clears his throat to continue.

"The woman was reportedly torn apart. Her tongue was cut out, her organs missing, and a cooler was found along with two broken vials full of her blood. We...they...well. We, yeah, we. We all speculate that it was a gang vampire attack from the Sakura division, as the vampire taken out on the scene had, as reported by Wasabi NoGinger and Merida DunBroch, several cherry blossom markings all over her body-"

Hiro zones out about midway, when he hears about the tongue. Vivid memories splash his mind, and he begins to shake. Jackson takes this as a sign that it's too much for Hiro to handle, thankfully, and let's his actions slide. Tadashi wraps his arms around the younger Hamada, whispering that it'll be okay – that it's fine.

"D-do...do you know who it was?" Hiro asks, his voice shaking. He killed someone. He was part of it. He gang attacked a young woman. An innocent one, probably.

"We...we found an ID on the site." Aster says, voice drenched in remorse. But before Aster can fully answer, someone calls him on the radio. "Robbery on 22nd." He starts to turn, Jack already out the door. He hesitates one last moment. "Sorry, mate. We'll call you with more information. Ya brother can tell'ya if you wanta know more."

"Thank you, Officer Bunnymund. We'll call if we get any more info," Tadashi says, shaking his hand. "Good luck."

"As to you," Aster says, and then with a hop, he's out the door, and the police car is out of sight. Tadashi turns towards Hiro and looks him in the eye.

"Did you kill Honey Lemon?" He asks, his voice poison. Hiro starts to shake. It was...

"_Honey Lemon!?" _Hiro's cry is raw and raspy and he starts to lose his balance and Tadashi pulls him to the floor and he just glares.

Hiro can feel all of Tadashi's hate in that one look. The look of betrayal, distrust...he knows something happened and he knows he'll have to lie his way out of this one. He starts crying. He...he can't lie. It's too late. The tears are pouring. Tadashi's look of rage turns to sympathy and he stares at his brother.

"...you were there."

Hiro chokes up and starts crying and he's shaking and nodding. "I-I didn't know it was her...I didn't even...someone ripped her throat open...we...I...Sayuri...she controlled us...she..."

Tadashi doesn't say anything, but he holds his brother close. "I'm so sorry, Hiro. I believe you,"

"You do?"

"You would never kill like that. I know you better than that," He whispers, rocking his brother quietly.

"She's dead."

"She's dead," Tadashi whispers, and Hiro can feel tears falling on top of his head. Aunt Cass walks over and holds the two of them close, rubbing their back with no tears. She's too strong for this, Hiro knows. His aunt is a steel wall of support, and for once, he's grateful for it instead of pulling back in embarrassment.

The three of them sit on the floor for a while, just sitting, just thinking, and all that can run through their heads is...

_What now? _

* * *

><p><p>

**A/N: I hated writing this chapter. SO. FREAKING. MUCH.**

**I don't know where I want to go with this, so I naturally decided to kill off a character. Don't get me wrong, I love Honey! But this made it SO MUCH MORE FUN.**

**Her murder will maybe play a bit part in the story? Honestly, I have no clue. But I promise you she wasn't picked out of random. ;) We'll just see where it goes! **


	6. Puzzles

**A/N: Archive warnings for this include funerals, a little more Hamadacest that ends up not being Hamadacest, confused teenagers, new villains, and a shocking twist in development of characters that you guys may or may not have seen coming?**

Honey's funeral can't take place until after the autopsy is complete and the investigation doesn't need her body anymore, but San Fransokyo Institute of Technology still holds a large ceremony on a reasonable evening a week following her death.

The porch to the exhibition hall is decorated with so many candles, so many sugar skulls, so many flowers, and so many overwhelming things that belonged to Honey that Hiro immediately regrets coming to the ceremony. If anything, he's more afraid of seeing the reactions of people to her death- _he killed someone oh yes he killed someone – _than being caught tonight – Aunt Cass has caked so much foundation on him that it's almost impossible to tell that he wasn't human aside from his nails and fangs. And even then, as long as he didn't talk very much in bright light, no one would be able to see those, either. The gloves on his hands provide a comfort.

He sits in front of the display, his eyes attached to a selfie that Honey took with him, Tadashi, and Cass on his first day to the lab, two years ago. Hiro considered attending, but he'd ultimately decided to put it off until he was eighteen. He promised Tadashi he'd take online classes, if it really made his brother feel more comfortable, at a local community college -_ he's already got an associates degree in flight engineering from the community college while Honey's only 22 and getting her masters he ripped this opportunity of life away from her – _and he'd been doing pretty well. It wasn't the best situation that he could be in – yeah, he could do a lot better, sure – but it made him comfortable and it worked out even better for him after he'd been bitten.

The selfie is two years old and Hiro can see all the big changes. Height, his hair more of a mess, the gap in his tooth ever present. It hurts him a lot to see it, so he gets up and starts walking around, looking for a spot to sit that won't make him super noticable. He doesn't even want to be here, but the guilt he felt while trying to find the words to tell his brother that make him panic and – _you're a horrible person you killed her you deserve to be here and be sad and feel remorse you monster –_

He finds Tadashi and Wasabi on accident, Gogo lost somewhere among the crowd trying to find Honey's classmates and offer them comfort. His breath hitches when he meets his eyes with Wasabi – _he knows. The Hunter always knows how to spot him how didn't he spot him sooner – _and Wasabi just pulls him close and ruffles his hair. Hiro tenses and he almost worries that his neck's going to be snapped.

But instead, he's greeted with a deep, soothing voice, "How you doing, little buddy?" and a ruffle of his hair.

–

The ceremony is simple and kind and a few words are spoken and everyone cries. Hiro ends up leaving for a nearby park; the college is only a few blocks from the park Tadashi used to take Hiro on their adventure days, and he finds himself sitting on a swing. Certainly not the most safe thing to do in the middle of the night, but it's only ten and he trusts that no one will come after him, human or vampire.

Naturally, he's wrong, because he's joined by someone shortly, a man this time. He rakes his blonde hair with his fingers and sighs, rocking back and forth. Hiro raises a brow at the man, and his jaw drops when he knows exactly who it is.

"Fred," He says. The boy glances over at him, smiling wide. Fred's exchanged his usual outfit for a nice shirt and pants. Not too formal, but not overly casual. Hiro suddenly feels extremely under dressed in his SFIT hoodie and brown slacks.

"Hey," He says quietly. It's so unlike Fred that it actually throws Hiro off. Even in their darkest moments as friends, Fred has always been the energetic, positive one. But the rings under his grey eyes and the way he tries to smile but it quivers tell Hiro that it's been a rough week for Fred, and even he's lost hope. Naturally, of course. One of the Big 6 (the name Fred's given them for two years now) is gone, and the newest member is to blame, but only the Hamada brothers, bound by trust and secrets, know about it.

They sit in silence, just swinging. Hiro doesn't want to talk, and it doesn't look like Fred's up for talking because he's zoning out. The only sound between them is the sharp, grinding sounds of rusting metal and the rustling of leaves in the lukewarm October wind.

And then, the silence breaks. "I know you were there." Fred claps his hands together and Hiro's eyes widen. "When she was killed. I know you were there. You're a vampire, aren't you?"

Hiro stands up from his swing and starts to back away, but Fred stops him. "Wait, hey!" Fred says, and Hiro shakes his head.

"You're gonna kill me, aren't you? Turn me in? To the Hunters?" Hiro asks, the stutter ever present in his voice. Fred shakes his head, but Hiro can't trust what's going on. He backs away slowly, the wood chips beneath his feet crunching as he moves. Hiro shakes his head. No. No no. This _can't _be happening.

But, as fate has it, he doesn't get far before Fred starts to follow. He gives one of the most sympathetic smiles that Hiro has ever seen, and that's when Hiro sees them. Fred catches on and he opens his mouth wide, pointing in only a way Fred seems to be able to do.

"See? Vampire." The fangs glisten in the night, sharp, ready to rip through the flesh of any human. Hiro rakes through his brain for any reason that Fred might even know about the killing, and in an instant, he remembers.

The tall blonde girl. The short Brazilian girl, the African American man with the afro, the kid with orange hair and round glasses, and...

And the boy who Hiro couldn't quite place a name on under the scarf he was wearing, but he swore he recognized the eyes and hair of him. The really friendly guy who introduced himself as Lee and shook Hiro's hand, unbeknownst it was Hiro but rather Hiroshi, under his father's name. He didn't dare use his last name in fear that they might trace him back to Hiro – being a genius had it's perks – or even worse, his older brother or his Aunt. The two of them had hung ou until things went craz, and Hiro instantly flinches and tries to block out the memories from his mind, hissing at the mere thought crossing it.

"Lee," Hiro says, quietly, cracking a grin. "All this time, I knew a vampire. _Tadashi _knew a vampire. And...wait. _Wait." _Hiro pauses, raising a brow. "You walk around in the sunlight all the time. And you show all the traits of a vampire. How come no one has caught on?"

Fred lets out a short lived laugh. "They know I'm a vampire. Everyone but Tadashi, that is."

Hiro's jaw drops. "But...but Wasabi's a hunter! And you _killed _Honey!"

"Hey, you know just as well as I do that we didn't have control over ourselves dude. Nasty witch, Sayuri is. I can' believe she would betray us like that." Fred rubs his face. "Anyways, that's why I was at the school all the time. I'm not a student at SFIT, you know that. But I am more than just a mascot."

"That day you were going to say something about 'by night', when I met you," Hiro starts piecing it together. "You weren't being serious or silly about being a school mascot. You were there for a reason!"

"Yup!" Fred cracks a grin. "Wasabi's part of the Hunter force takin' down the bad vampires, yeah, but he's always there because he's watchin' out for you and Tadashi and Gogo and even me. Course, he doesn't know we're part of a clan" Hiro's confused. Clan? "But he's also there making sure that no one gets hurt. He's part of the task force division, and when hunts like what we were pulled into happen, he's supposed to stop them. Hunts like that? They don't do them often. It's only usually to target people they don't like,"

"So wait...why Honey? She's so innocent!" Hiro feel betrayed and his chest tightens. How could he be pulled into this?

"Well, we don't know. But we have a guess," Fred says, and Hiro can hear the dramatic flare in his voice. He leans in.

Hiro feels Fred's cold breath in his ear.

"Honey was working on a serum to cure vampirism."

–

Hiro can't sleep. He hasn't slept for the last few days, and his vials of blood are all gone. His stomach growls loudly and he can't keep his mouth from watering and he sits, watching his brother's sleeping form breathe in and out. Tadashi hasn't been handling Honey's death well, but he's been on sleeping pills since their parents died as children, so he doesn't have the issues sleeping that Hiro has. Hiro almost wants to sneak in and take the milogram of sweet, sweet lunesta sitting on the counter of their shared bathroom. But he knows better than to do that. Lunesta is expensive, and he doesn't want to abuse drugs. That part of him is still around thankfully.

He's still trying to wrap his head around the fact that Fred's a vampire, too. The two of them didn't talk much at all that night after he'd told Hiro about Honey's studies. In fact, they didn't talk at all – Hiro had realized what time it was and the two of them arranged to meet up at the cafe that Wednesday, when Tadashi would be in classes again.

He wonders what happened the night of the killing. It's mostly a scary mix of pain, screaming, and bloodthirst for Hiro, and it makes his body shake vigorously, so he rolled onto his side and clutches one of his larger pillows like a lifeline. He can't remember much from that night. He remembers leaving the coven, where he was staying for the night; Sayuri had convinced him that they were going to another one a few blocks away. He thinks he remembers his headache starting there and getting worse and worse through the night. Fred said something about not being able to control himself that night, and Hiro only can help but to wonder...

What _had _happened?

His stomach twists and growls painfully this time, and Hiro flinches and lets out a groan louder than what he likes. From across the room, he watches Tadashi shuffle in his covers, sitting up from the loud noise. "Hiro?" He mumbles into the dark room. The only light comes from their various electronics blinking to tell them they're on and charging, and the street lights from their windows.

"I'm fine, Tadashi," Hiro says, but his stomach growls loudly and Tadashi sits up, skillfully making his way into Hiro's room like he has several times before. Nightmares were common in the Hamada household, and the two boys always kept a clean path between their beds for any emergencies arising.

Tadashi climbs into bed next to Hiro, leaning his back against Hiro's bed frame. "You need to eat," He says quietly, tracing the lines on Hiro's microchip inspired pajamas. Usually Hiro would like the gesture, but he doesn't want to be touched right now. He shrugs Tadashi off. Tadashi lets out a surprised gasp and then goes silent, and Hiro feels ridiculously guilty. Tadashi's just hurt.

Hiro pulls himself up into a sitting position, crossing his legs.

"Why are you not wanting to eat?" Tadashi asks. His voice is laced with hurt and concern and Hiro sees the way he fidgets and bits his lip and Hiro just sighs. He shakes his head quietly.

"I'm afraid to," He admits. Tadashi lets out a soft sound and rubs his temples.

"Hiro, you didn't mean to," Tadashi attempts to reassure, but Hiro shakes his head. He killed his brother's crush. He's the worst kind of brother. He's the worst kind of person on the planet, if he can even _call _himself that. "Hiro, Fred told me."

Hiro looks up with a shocked expression. "What...what?" He feels his stomach twist. What did Fred say? Did he give details? Of how they ripped her flesh and ate her alive and how great the blood tasted in his mouth, fresh from the kill-

"The night it happened. We went out drinking, and we had a great time. Wasabi was on a hunting scout, of course, and Gogo and Honey were off doing who knows what, and so Fred and I went out drinking."

"But Fred was with..."

"With you. I know. He mentioned that he was thinking about going on the hunt, to make sure nothing bad happened. He's always out protecting humans, and he heard there was going to be a hunt and planned to stop it." Tadashi rubs his eyes. "I think he thought I thought he was drunk, or didn't understand it, because most people think a hunt is just going out and getting deer or something."

"I see," Hiro says, not sure where Tadashi is going with this. It doesn't explain why Fred was with Hiro. What did Fred even _tell Tadashi?!_

"Anyways, I put two and two together. And then we went outside, and I asked him to watch over you." Tadashi admits. "Fred was shocked at first, that I knew what he was talking about, and heclaimed that I was wrong aboutwhat he was talking about, but I told him everything. About you. About what I knew from Sayuri. And he freaked when I said Sayuri."

"Why?" Hiro asks, interest peeping. Tadashi just sighs and shakes his head. He hesitates for a moment.

"Sayuri is...well. He explained her as this witch. She's into magic, and she liked to target humans she didn't like by mind controlling other younger vampires into doing what she wants them to do. It sounded scary when he explained it. And I think...I think that's what happened to you the other night."

"The witch pulled us into her trap and had me kill Honey," Hiro realizes, and lets out a loud groan. "Oh my god, how could I be so stupid!" Tadashi grabs him by the arm. Tells him it's not his fault. But Hiro can't believe he fell for her trap. She was _so kind, _he should have seen it coming! He really, really should have!

But quickly, the embarassment and dread fades to pure anger. He manipulated him, he thinks with a bitter thought ringing in his mind. He lets it jump from his mind to his tongue and his voice cracks. "It's a good thing she's dead," Hiro says firmly, clenching his fists. "But why. Why would she do that? Why would she..."

"Who knows, Hiro," Tadashi says softly, pulling his brother against his chest. "Who knows..."

The two of them sit in a long elapse of silence. It's nearly four AM, and the two brothers are tired, but both of their minds are racing. Tadashi's always had trouble sleeping, and it's too late in the morning for him to take his sleeping pills when he has to be up in two hours. Hiro just can't sleep. Won't sleep. The comfort of his brother's heart beat helps a little, but every time he closes his eyes, he sees Honey's corpse, bleeding everywhere. So he finds his eyes fixated on the wall across from them.

Hiro's stomach growls one final time before Tadashi moves Hiro and reaches for the familiar pocket knife sitting on their desk and the sanitizer he uses to make sure it's clean. He wipes down the knife with the wipes, discards them skillfully in the waste basket, and holds it up to his arm, taking a deep breath. An afterthought reminds him to grab the black towel neatly folded on the desk, dust having gathered on it after a week without use.

Hiro watches with frightened eyes, sitting up. "Tadashi, seriously,"

"You can control yourself," Hiro shakes his head from where he sits. Tadashi doesn't even listen for Hiro's answer.

"I'm afraid to. What if I do what...I did..." Hiro goes silent when Tadashi just casually rakes the sharpened knife against his skin, digging a little deeper than usual. He catches the blood with the towel, but it's going everywhere and Tadashi's wincing and he knows he screwed up this time. Hiro quickly looks between his brother's face and the blood pouring and the smell is definitely overwhelming.

Tadashi gasps when Hiro's tongue meets skin, and his younger brother skillfully licks it up as he goes everytime before sucking away at the deep gash, practically guzzling down the red liquid. It's not nearly enough, Tadashi thinks, but it's what he can offer. And Hiro's not panicking. He's in the zone again, holding his arm like it's the only thing not spinning in a spiral to hell in his life.

There's no headache. There's no screaming, just Tadashi's labored breath. And even that is a comforting sign. A sign there's no panic, only consent. He hears his brother moan softly once in a while, which is new – one is a bit too loud. And that triggers Hiro to pull away, staring at his brother's beat red face.

"Are you seriously getting into this?" Hiro is angry. His voice is sharp and he feels offended. They talked about this. About the sexual arousal. About everything that made Hiro feel uncomfortable about feeding off his brother.

And his brother just looks at him with shame written on his face. The twenty two year old lets out a guilty sigh and Hiro licks his arm to heal it (there's still a nasty cut, but at least it's not bleeding everywhere this time.) It sends shivers and guilt down Tadashi's spine, and he pulls away slowly.

"I'm sorry, Hiro," Tadashi says, but Hiro's having none of it.

"Dude, we are _brothers," _Hiro snaps, sitting up and crossing his arms. "Biological, _six years apart _brothers!" Tadashi blushes shamefully, lowering his head like a scared dog being scolded for not using the outdoors to potty. "You're twenty two! I'm _sixteen! _I'm not even sure you're legally allowed to drink from me, let alone find...I don't know, sexual pleasure in me sucking away at your arm!"

"Stop yelling at me!" Tadashi snaps back. "I'm trying not to, I swear! Do you think I'm not disgusted by it? Have you seen my face? Wincing? Look at my lips, Hiro!" Hiro does, and he notices the blood pooling where Tadashi's broken skin. He must have been biting really hard to keep from...Hiro shakes his head. Ew. No. "It's getting worse. And worse. And harder to contain..and soon enough I might actually _hurt _you. And I don't...I don't know how I'd live with myself if I ever _did-_"

"Well...I'm scared of hurting you too, you know!" Hiro whispers harshly back. But he can see how ashamed Tadashi looks. Like his whole world's shattering. Tadashi pulls Hiro close to him – or at least tries, but Hiro flinches so badly that Tadashi doesn't even try to go for it again. He just recoils, looking away from his brother. Tadashi thinks he's a monster; these feelings aren't natural and he wants them to go away but they won't and they haunt him and...

Hiro doesn't want to admit that he's been having weird feelings during the feeding, too. Feelings he wish he didn't feel for his brother, either. Nothing's going right. His world's upside down. Hiro curls in on himself, quietly sighing.

After a few minutes, Tadashi sighs and pets his brother's hair. "You know I love you, right?" Tadashi asks, and Hiro almost gags in response. "In a platonic way!" Tadashi adds, his face turning even redder – something Hiro doesn't think is possible but turns out to be. "And that all of this? This weird...love...arousal stuff? I don't like it one bit. And I'm sorry it's freaking you out, I really am,"

"It's not your fault," Hiro says quietly, brushing his hair from his face and reaching out to touch Tadashi's shoulder. He lets a wobbly smile crack on his face and Tadashi returns it with his own. "I love you too, big bro." And then he's pulled into a tight hug – super awkward hug, but a hug none the less.

–

In the deep alley ways of Sanfransokyo, a young woman in an elegant green kimono greets a tall man with greying hair. She holds out her hand to him, gesturing for him to come inside the Sakura house. The man follows her through a maze of hallways, spiral stair cases, and finally, to decorative lovely rice screen doors, decorated with colors and lights stunning all who see.

"As you are aware," The woman speaks softly, her voice like the petals falling from cherry trees. "Our mistress has recently been hunted down and killed."

The man in the mask sighs gently. "Ah, yes, Sayuri." He says softly, as if remembering an old friend. "Such a lovely woman." The man shakes his head sadly and then looks up. The woman is thrown off by the mask, but underneath she likes to imagine someone who might be alike her own father in his older days – a kind man who couldn't hurt a fly if he tried. The man takes a few delicate steps closer to the woman in green and puts a hand on her shoulder. She flinches viciously, but he keeps his hand there, firm on her, but not to rough as gentle. "I am sorry for your lost, Ibaki. Certainly it was a quick death?"

"Ah, yes," The woman brushes her light brown hair out of her face. "Very. Tazered and staked. Very fast, sir."

"Mmm."

"Sir, if I may," Ibaki leans in close and speaks in undertones. She folds her hands over her obi and bows. "Sayuri sid you visited often, the man in the kabuki mask. "She spoke of you fondly. Said you were a close friend and a kind associate. So I must ask, what have you any business here in our haven? The Vampires are not kind to outsiders such as yourself."

"Ah, as I am aware," The man folds his hands behind his back, beginning to pace. "Have you, Ibaki, any knowledge of...the arrangements, persay, I made with your clan?"

"Not of which I am aware," Ibaki says, following the man with her hazel eyes as he moves swiftly through the room. "I am but a mere worker here, sir."

"Ah, as to be expected. Slaves of your own will," The man clicks his tongue. "Sayuri and I go as far back as my daughter's change. I haven't seen her in such a long, long time. Sayuri, of course, took her in at first."

"I see," The woman swallows when the man gets close to her face, and she can feel him looking up and down at her through the holes in the mask. He turns away swiftly.

"But of course, as the cruel world had it, my daughter was sliced through the chest with the very wooden stake I swore to kill vampires with when my wife, Elise, disappeared. So I swore, by all means, to return to my habits. Kill of vampires, seeing as they were the monsters that had stripped my daughter of her humanity, put fear into our lives." The man paces around the room, the metal pieces he's brought following him like some sort of shadow. Ibaki wants to touch them, but she fears getting hurt.

"Sayuri and I, of course, had an agreement." The man huffs under his breath. "Sayuri was not the most elegant vampire. She abused her powers for bloodlust, to ensure that her clan would live above all else. A vampire supremist at it's finest."

"Usually, I wouldn't care for your kind. However, things do happen. Because she took care of my daughter until her untimely – or perhaps, timely, given her immortality otherwise – death, I would not attack the Sakura clan. This place ended up being our gathering spot, where she would point me to various vampires that she wanted taken out and I would do the job fairly." The metal pieces around him spiral up his arm and into a sharp point, and he makes a point by slicing the hair right next to Ibaki. It misses her by mere inches, but not before slicing a rather delicate piece of her hair off. It falls around her in wisps, and she screams loudly in shock.

Before she can scream long, however, the metal pieces wrap around her mouth, making a fairly decent gag. It wraps around her body, pinning her to the wall. She's scared, and she's crying, and the man in the mask smiles. A thrilling, small joy for one such as himself. To frighten one of the most fearsome creatures on the planet – being a mere _human, _no less – is something that tastes bittersweet on his tongue.

"Of course, the deal ended when Sayuri died. I only promised to do this for her. And now that she's gone, there's no one I owe a promise to." He leans it, touching the girl's fragile face with black leather gloves. The girl whimpers and shakes beneath his touch but the man in the mask doesn't show any remorse for his actions.

"Oh, Ibaki. You were always so sweet," He whispers in her ear. Ibaki shakes and quivers beneath his grasp. The man sighs, and then whips around. He doesn't like this part – the part where he has to kill. But he's not _really _killing them, is he now? He's simply...putting an end to a soul trapped in an immortal body. There is nothing to _be _killed.

And besides, what's a few deaths if it means so many more get to live? What's a few deaths if it means avenging his daughter? He could – and he will – kill until there's nothing left to kill.

So, with no hesitance, he flicks his hands and his microbots do as they're created to do. "Let you be an example of my wrath," He threatens. Spiraling into a metal stake – wooden would have been more effective, but anything sharp will do with enough hexes – the microbots loom over the small geisha and then, in a splash of red, the bots rip through her, her screams echoing through the hall.

The masked man leaves through the back door, the blood of the room he's left sprayed everywhere. He takes carefully steps through the streets, and when his cellphone rings, he discards the mask quietly and takes a seat in an empty, dry alley way. He flips open the older phone, speaking crisply into the microphone.

"Robert Callaghan. Oh, no! You're fine, you've just caught me at a bad time."

-

**A/N: I hope the thought running through your head right now is 'what the fuck is going on here and why am I so lost?' because I'm feeling that and I'm **_**writing **_**this thing. XD**

**Okay, so, key of points:  
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**Honey developed a serum, that Sayuri (who was a gateway character) didn't like very much.**

**Fred is a vampire. Old age style. Knew Hiro was a vampire for a while, never said anything until Tadashi brought it up.**

**Tadashi and Hiro are still struggling with the whole saliva thing. I should mention now that with repeated exposure, it only gets stronger. It's...uh. Well, it'll be explained the next chapter. U v U**

**CALLAGHAN'S A VILLAIN?! WHAT WHO WOULD HAVE GUESSED?! But no I'm REALLY excited about his role in this. And Tadashi's. Ohoho. You guys are gonna love it, or at least I hope!**

**I hope the minor OC people aren't bothering you. ; A ; Ibaki and that one girl in chapter four won't obviously appear again, and the Sakura clan in general won't be mentioned much, but Sayuri played a bigger part than I wanted. Originally Gogo was going to be the mentor that Hiro had in the draft, but I wanted to play around with this old, fifty year old in appearance bad-at-Engish evil vampire thing. Hopefully in the next chapter I can cover that, too. **

**So yeah! **


End file.
